Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-01

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 5.0)

Dear sir, Assalam o alikum! I hope you are enjoying your health. Sir in past i done my bacholer degree and after that i started to doing job in your country since the last year however now i want to continue my study and i want to get the phd degree for my bright career. Yet sir i do not have so much time for study because in mostly of my time is waste in the work. Therefore sir i write a letter to you to reduce my work time because i want to study in part time. Sir if you allow me to work for 7 to 2 then it is very good for me because after that i have enough time to study for my better future. Sir my part time study also have benift for you because when i got the degree of PHD then i will certainly work in this company you also kow i work with my complete determination. And after the degree i struggle to reach this company to the sucess

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, as you successfully explain why you want to reduce your working hours to pursue a PhD, state your preferred hours of 7 to 2, and describe how your studies will benefit your employer. However, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, the explanation of the benefits to the employer relies on very basic reasoning regarding your future commitment and determination after graduation, lacking the depth and extension required for a higher band. To improve, you should expand on your points by explaining precisely how the advanced knowledge gained from your PhD studies could be directly applied to improve company projects or operations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is some organisation present, with a clear attempt to cover the three main bullet points, but the response lacks overall logical progression and paragraphing. The entire letter is written as a single, dense block of text rather than being broken down into appropriate paragraphs for an introduction, body points, and conclusion. Furthermore, cohesive devices are inadequate and repetitive, heavily relying on conversational fillers like 'Sir' and basic conjunctions such as 'and' or 'however' to link ideas. To reach the next level, you need to structure your letter into clear paragraphs and use a wider variety of cohesive phrases to guide the reader smoothly through your arguments.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and minimally adequate for the task. You attempt some less common words related to your career and education, such as 'determination' and 'success', but there are noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and spelling that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. For instance, phrases like 'bacholer degree', 'started to doing job', and 'waste in the work' demonstrate a lack of precision in lexical control. Additionally, spelling errors such as 'benift' and 'sucess' detract from the quality of the writing. To achieve a higher score, you should focus on using accurate word forms, correct spelling, and more natural collocations relevant to professional correspondence.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The grammar demonstrates a limited range of structures, with frequent errors that cause difficulty. While you attempt some complex sentence forms, these attempts are often faulty, such as in the sentence 'Therefore sir i write a letter to you to reduce my work time because i want to study in part time.' There are frequent errors in verb tenses, such as 'i done my bacholer degree', alongside missing articles, incorrect prepositions, and non-standard capitalization and punctuation. To improve your grammatical score, you need to work on maintaining accurate verb tense consistency, mastering basic sentence patterns, and reducing the frequency of foundational structural errors.

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

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