Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

Dear Manager,

I am writing this letter to request you to get some reduction in my working hours.

I hope you are doing well. I would like tell you that I am going to enhance my skills and knowledge, which will facilitate me to tackle with a lot of challenges which trigger my projects and the office tasks to delay and demolish. But this only possible when I will do some courses, for what I have to do part time studies. These courses are going teach me about the perfect analysis of risk factors and as well as, I will learn to do planning and measures for challenging situations.

I think my this decision is going boost my skills, confidence, way of planning, and my working speed. Furthermore, you are also going to get benefit of my studies because you are my manager and when I will complete my any task on time with good success rate then you are going to be nominated for manager of a successful team.

I hope you will respond me with positive respond. Thank you so much

Your supervisor,

Sukhbir

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task: explaining the reason for the request, mentioning the desired hours, and describing the benefits to the employer. However, the response is somewhat underdeveloped. While you mention the need for part-time studies, you fail to specify exactly which hours you would like to work, which is a key requirement of the prompt. The explanation of benefits is also quite vague and focuses more on your personal gain than the employer's. To improve, ensure you provide concrete details, such as specific days or times you wish to be away from the office, and more professional, business-oriented justifications for how your studies will add value to the company.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter follows a basic structure, but the flow of ideas is often disjointed. While you use some linking words like 'Furthermore', the transitions between sentences are sometimes abrupt or confusing, such as the shift from discussing risk analysis to the manager's potential nomination. Paragraphing is also problematic; the entire body of the letter is contained in one large block, which makes it difficult to follow. To improve, use clear paragraph breaks to separate your introduction, the explanation of your request, the proposed schedule, and the benefits to the company. Ensure each paragraph has a clear, singular focus.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but there are several instances of awkward phrasing and incorrect word choices. For example, 'demolish' is used incorrectly in the context of office tasks, and 'get some reduction' is not natural business English. You also struggle with collocations, such as 'respond me with positive respond'. While you attempt to use more complex vocabulary, these errors occasionally impede the clarity of your message. Focus on learning standard business phrases and collocations to sound more professional and precise in your communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the letter that affect the overall quality of the writing. Issues include incorrect verb forms ('I will do some courses, for what I have to do...'), missing articles, and awkward sentence structures ('I think my this decision is going boost...'). While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors in basic sentence construction prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. You should focus on subject-verb agreement, correct preposition usage, and ensuring that your complex sentences are constructed accurately.

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.