Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-15

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You would like to reduce your working hours in order to study part time.

Write a letter to your boss. In your letter

• explain why you want to reduce your working hours
• say which hours you would like to work
• describe how your part-time studies would benefit your employer

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ....................................,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Mr. Alex,

I am writing to formally request a change regarding my working hours due to my interest in studying part-time.

To begin with, I have always been fond of studying Medical Laboratory Technologist. I have received an offer of acceptance in Seneca College to join the course in September intake. Therefore, I would like to inform you that I will not be available in the week days to work full-time. However, I would be grateful if you could adjust my hours on weekends which will enable me to join my classes regularly on time. Since I am working as a Clinical Laboratory Assistant, my part-time studies would allow me to develop my hands-on work. Lastly, I would like to apply for higher positions within company to contribute for its growth in the future.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could reduce my working hours at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Payal Bhakta

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You clearly explained your reason for wanting to reduce hours, specified your preferred schedule (weekends), and explained the benefit to your employer regarding your professional development. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter to a manager. To reach a higher band, you could expand slightly on the specific benefits to the employer, perhaps by mentioning how your new skills will directly improve laboratory efficiency or patient care, rather than just focusing on your own career growth.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. You use transition signals such as 'To begin with', 'Therefore', and 'Lastly' to guide the reader through your points. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate the purpose of the letter from the specific details. The progression of ideas is easy to follow. To improve, ensure that your referencing is precise; for example, in the phrase 'within company', a determiner like 'the' is missing, which slightly affects the flow of the sentence.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for this task, using terms like 'formally request', 'intake', and 'hands-on work'. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. For instance, 'studying Medical Laboratory Technologist' is slightly awkward; it would be more natural to say 'studying to become a Medical Laboratory Technologist'. Additionally, 'join my classes' is acceptable, but 'attend my classes' is more formal and precise. The vocabulary is sufficient to convey your message clearly, but lacks the sophistication required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'I would be grateful if you could adjust my hours...'. While your meaning is always clear, there are some grammatical slips. For example, 'in the week days' should be 'on weekdays', and 'within company' requires the definite article 'the'. There is also a slight error in 'contribute for its growth', where 'to' would be the correct preposition. Despite these errors, your control of grammar is generally good, and the mistakes do not impede communication.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.