Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-03

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 request to reduce my working hours as I wanted to enroll in part time studies, which will initially help me to gain more knowledge and build a strong career opportunity throughout my tenure in the company.

I would like to reduce my working hours as I want to focus on my further studies which will enable me to understand the concepts clearly at work and hepls me to grow within the organization. If you accept my request, then I would like to work in morning time between 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, thus it will be convenient for me to attend my lecture after 4:00 pm.

Moreover, these studies will assist me to work better in the organization and to some extent, organization itself can take advantage by having a experience employee with higher education skills within the company.

I hope you will accept my request and let me know the updates accordingly.

yours sincerely,

Raghav Jhanji

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the prompt, earning a solid rating. You clearly explain why you wish to reduce your working hours to pursue part-time studies, specify the exact hours you would like to work from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, and describe how these studies will benefit your employer by helping you gain higher education skills and grow within the organization. A clear purpose and tone are maintained throughout the letter. To reach a higher level, the ideas could be extended with more specific detail regarding what you are studying and how those particular subjects directly apply to your daily workplace tasks, avoiding some of the minor repetitions found in your second and third paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear letter format, appropriate opening and closing, and logical paragraphing that separates each requirement of the prompt. You make use of cohesive devices such as 'Moreover' and 'thus' to link your ideas together. However, some of the referencing and connections between sentences feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, such as restarting explanations of your studies across multiple paragraphs. To achieve the next level, you need to ensure smoother, more natural transitions between ideas and tighter logical progression so that the cohesive devices integrate more unobtrusively into the flow of the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

An adequate range of vocabulary is deployed for the task, allowing you to successfully communicate your request. You attempt some less common vocabulary items and functional phrases, such as 'tenure in the company' and 'convenient for me'. However, there are some word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as writing 'request to reduce' instead of 'request a reduction', spelling 'hepls' instead of 'helps', and using 'morning time' rather than simply 'the morning'. While these minor errors do not impede communication, they reflect a level where vocabulary control is still developing. Incorporating more precise, natural collocations and eliminating slips will elevate your lexical score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

Your writing displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an ability to construct longer sentences using subordinating conjunctions like 'as', 'which', and 'if'. There are some errors in grammar and tense consistency, such as shifting between past or present intentions ('as I wanted to enroll' contrasted with present goals) and minor prepositional issues inside patterns. Fortunately, these errors rarely impede communication and your meaning remains clear throughout. To move further up the scale, you need to increase the proportion of error-free complex sentences and exercise tighter control over verb tenses and agreement across your structures.

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