Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-28

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 Manager,

I am writing this letter to ask whether it would be able to reduce my working for the next six months from next week as I am starting my university education.

I received my university schedule for this semester and I have a lot of main subjects because of that I do not have enogh time to spend on part-time work. In addition, I need almost 75% attendence in each class.

I prefer to work early mornings from next Monday, especially from 4.30 a.m until 11.30 p.m. During weekends, I do not wish to work as I have to focus on my main subjects and its assignments.

I believe that my subjects are directly connected to our work because they teach us leadership values, importance of customer service and benefits of proper communication.

Would it be possible for you to accept my request for reducing my working hours for this semester? I would really appreciate your time and effort to resolve this issue.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Kee Ku.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You successfully covered all the requirements of the prompt. You clearly explained why you want to reduce your working hours due to starting university and needing time for your studies and attendance requirements. You specified your preferred working hours, mentioning early mornings and weekends off, and you described how your studies would benefit your employer by connecting your coursework to leadership and customer service skills. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a manager. The ideas are relevant and well-developed, satisfying the expectations for this task type. Minor phrasing issues do not detract from the completeness of the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter follows a clear logical organisation with an appropriate greeting, a well-structured body divided into logical paragraphs for each prompt requirement, and a proper sign-off. Cohesive devices such as 'In addition', 'During weekends', and 'I believe that' are used to connect ideas effectively. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different points, ensuring the reader can easily follow your request, schedule, and reasoning. The overall progression of the letter is smooth and coherent throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You used a sufficient range of vocabulary to communicate your message clearly and with some flexibility, including terms like 'university education', 'attendance', 'customer service', and 'appreciate your time and effort'. However, there are a few lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'ask whether it would be able to reduce my working' instead of 'working hours', 'enogh' (spelling error), and 'main subjects' which is slightly unnatural compared to 'modules' or 'courses'. Despite these minor flaws, the vocabulary is adequate to convey your meaning without impeding communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You demonstrated a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional and relative constructions ('I am writing this letter to ask whether...', 'I believe that my subjects are directly connected...'). However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as the missing noun in 'reduce my working', the run-on structure in 'because of that I do not have', and the incorrect time expression '4.30 a.m until 11.30 p.m' (using p.m. instead of a.m., or mixing up the shift length). Punctuation is generally fine, but the grammatical inaccuracies occasionally require the reader to re-read.

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

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