Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-21

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 7.5)

Dear Gary,

I hope you are doing well.

I am writing this to request you to reduce my working hours. As discussed earlier, I have decided to enrol in part time Artificial Intelligence (AI) couse, and this course is offered by the University of Toronto.

This program is specifically designed for working professionals, and to demonstrate how to integrate AI in their day-to-day operations. This course is offered online from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on weekdays. As my current working hours are from 9:00 am to 5:00pm, I would like to change it to 7:00 am to 3:00 pm to accommodate my part time learning. These operational hours will affect my current commitments and responsibilities.

I strongly believe that this study will expand my skill horizon. In addition to this, with this new tooling and learnings, I can integrate AI in our existing system, which will improve our team's efficiency and performance. Also, I can transfer my knowledge within our team, and it would be a great addition to our team's skill set.

Thank you for your time and consideration. Please feel free to reach out if you need any further information about this course.

Yours sincerely,

Jaivik Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 8.0

You successfully covered all three bullet points required in the prompt. You clearly explained why you want to reduce your working hours, detailing your enrollment in a part-time Artificial Intelligence course at the University of Toronto. You also specified the exact hours you would like to work (7:00 am to 3:00 pm) to accommodate your studies, and described how this education would benefit your employer by improving team efficiency and bringing new AI integration skills to the workplace. The tone is appropriately professional and polite for a workplace request letter. Your ideas are well-developed and directly relevant to the task, fulfilling all requirements of the band descriptors for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

Your letter is well-organized with a clear overall progression. The paragraphs are logically divided, starting with the main request, moving into specific details about the schedule and course, and concluding with the benefits to the employer and a polite sign-off. You made good use of cohesive devices such as 'In addition to this', 'Also', and referencing pronouns to link your ideas smoothly. The flow is natural, and paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, reflecting the standards for a solid band 7 performance.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.0

You demonstrated a sufficient range of vocabulary with some less common items and appropriate collocations, such as 'working professionals', 'day-to-day operations', and 'skill horizon'. There are a few minor lexical slips, such as spelling 'couse' instead of 'course' and using 'tooling' rather than 'tools' or 'techniques'. However, your vocabulary choice is precise enough to convey your message clearly and professionally, allowing for an effective and appropriate level of communication suitable for a Band 7 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

You used a good mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional and multi-clause sentences ('This program is specifically designed for working professionals, and to demonstrate how to integrate AI...'). There are some minor grammatical inaccuracies, for instance, saying 'request you to reduce' instead of 'request a reduction in' and a pronoun agreement issue in 'As my current working hours are... I would like to change it to...' (where 'it' should be 'them'). Despite these occasional errors, the majority of your sentences are clear and error-free, and communication is never impeded.

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

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