Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-27

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 4.0)

Dear Sir,

I am writing this letter to give my valuable insights regarding the cookery course, which I attended last month.

Since I was the student of Mexican confectionary class, I greatly enjoyed to decorate the cakes and pastries using the cream cones of different colors. In addition, the course also described how to prepare the small edible items such as pancakes, cupcakes, which was very creative and informative.

As their were so many functions during this summer, I got the opportunity to show-case my culinary skills to my friends and family.

I prepared different Mexican bakery goods on celebrations such as birthday parties, anniversaries, marriage ceremony of my closed ones.

Although there are variety of cookery course in your renowned institution, I believe African food should be included. I would highly appreciate if non-vegetarian main course of Ghana and Egypt is included.

I would be glad to attended the upcoming courses.

Kind regards,

Jasnoor Kaur.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0

The response is completely off-topic. The task required a letter to a boss requesting a reduction in working hours to study part-time, including specific details about the schedule and the benefits to the employer. Instead, the student wrote a letter providing feedback on a cookery course. Because the response fails to address any of the bullet points or the core purpose of the prompt, it cannot be assessed as a successful completion of the task. It does not meet the requirements of the prompt at all.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The letter is structured with paragraphs, and there is a logical flow within the context of the feedback provided about the cookery course. The student uses basic cohesive devices such as 'In addition', 'Although', and 'Since'. However, because the content is entirely irrelevant to the task instructions, the coherence is undermined by the fact that the ideas do not relate to the prompt. While the paragraphing is clear, the lack of relevance to the task makes it difficult to award a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary for a general letter, using terms like 'culinary skills', 'renowned institution', and 'informative'. There are some minor errors, such as 'show-case' (should be one word) and 'closed ones' (should be 'loved ones'). While the vocabulary is adequate for describing a course, it is not used to address the specific requirements of the task. The range is limited but sufficient for basic communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'Although there are variety of cookery course in your renowned institution, I believe African food should be included.' There are several grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('there are variety of cookery course' should be 'there is a variety of cookery courses') and verb form errors ('I would be glad to attended' should be 'I would be glad to attend'). These errors are frequent but do not completely impede communication.

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

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