Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-29

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 employ your company and i am working finas department.I write a letter to take permission for reduce working hours.Because i continu study part time.

I do my job now 9.00am to 5.00pm but my eveng class start 4.00pm so i miss my class. so please give me permission live 1and half hours advanced.

I feel study play important roal our life and improve sikll and help for working.every empioy well eajucated then help to grow bussniss.

I hope sir you are understand and give me permission.

your fathafull

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response attempts to cover the bullet points by stating a reason for reducing hours, mentioning the desired work schedule, and touching upon the benefits to the employer, such as 'help to grow bussniss'. However, the content is severely underdeveloped due to the very short length of only 92 words, which falls significantly below the 150-word minimum requirement. Furthermore, the tone is inappropriate for a formal business letter to a boss, opening with 'Dear sir' and lacking standard formal letter conventions. Because the task is only minimally addressed and falls well short of the word count, this warrants a band score of 4.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

The letter lacks proper paragraphing and cohesive devices. The text is broken into short, fragmented lines rather than coherent paragraphs, and transitions between ideas are abrupt. For instance, jumping directly from working hours to the philosophical benefits of studying ('I feel study play important roal our life') happens without any transitional markers. While basic referencing like 'my job' and 'my class' is used, the overall organization is extremely disjointed, resulting in a low score for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, with numerous spelling and word-form errors that strain the reader. Examples include 'employ' instead of 'employee', 'finas' instead of 'finance', 'eveng' instead of 'evening', 'sikll' instead of 'skills', and 'bussniss' instead of 'business'. The student attempts to use some less common words like 'permission' and 'benefit', but the pervasive misspellings and inaccurate word choices severely limit lexical adequacy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

Grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting almost entirely of simple, error-ridden sentences. There are frequent, basic errors in tense, subject-verb agreement, and sentence structure, such as 'I am employ your company', 'I write a letter to take permission for reduce', and 'every empioy well eajucated then help to grow'. Punctuation is also problematic, with missing capitalisation and run-on phrasing. Because errors are constant and affect almost every sentence, the grammar falls into the Band 4 descriptor.

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

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