Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to request you about decline in my working hours for my part time study, which i started last week in residence CVC college.This study is based on business finance management.

Moreover, if you will reduce my office hours during morning from 8am to 11am, it would be efficient for me to access two locations on same path.Since My college is located on samw way.This will not only assist to save my coseriable time for office, but also for my institution.

Last bout no least, part time study will helpful to improve my financial skills. The major advantage for my senior employer to assist them regarding financial certeria. This will definitely improve the performance of campany to cover all the financial project in responseble manners.That is why employers and campany have to face less financial crisis which is happen at frequent level.

I would appreciate if you could approve my request.

Yours sincerely

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task, meeting the basic requirements. You successfully explain why you want to reduce your working hours for part-time studies in business finance management at CVC college. You also specify the hours you wish to work, from 8am to 11am in the morning, and describe how your studies will benefit your employer by improving your financial skills to help with financial criteria and projects. However, some ideas are under-developed or lack full clarity. For instance, the explanation of how the schedule helps you access two locations is somewhat unclear, and the description of how the employer will benefit lacks specific elaboration. To reach a higher level, you should extend your supporting ideas more fully and ensure every bullet point is explored in greater depth.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical structure appropriate for a request to a boss. You use paragraphing to separate different points, starting with the reason for the reduction, moving to the requested hours and benefits, and concluding with a polite sign-off. However, cohesion is at times mechanical and referencing is not always clear. For example, transitional phrases like 'Moreover' and 'Last bout no least' feel somewhat forced. Furthermore, cohesive devices are occasionally overused or inaccurate, and referencing between sentences can be slightly confusing, as seen in the transition between your travel route and the office time savings. To improve, you should ensure that ideas flow more naturally from one sentence to the next using smoother and more precise cohesive links.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'financial management', 'efficient', and 'financial crisis'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and spelling that detract from the writing. Examples include 'decline' instead of 'reduction', 'samw' instead of 'same', 'coseriable' instead of 'considerable', 'helpful' instead of 'helpful', 'certeria' instead of 'criteria', 'campany' instead of 'company', 'responseble' instead of 'responsible', and 'happen' instead of 'happens'. While these do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to cause some difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher band, you need to expand your control of less common vocabulary and carefully proofread your work to eliminate basic spelling and word choice errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures like 'if you will reduce my office hours... it would be efficient'. However, there is a limited range of complex structures, and attempts at complex sentences are often faulty. There are frequent errors in grammar, including incorrect verb tenses and patterns, such as 'request you about decline', 'access two locations on same path', 'assist to save', and 'which is happen at frequent level'. Punctuation and capitalization errors, such as starting sentences with lowercase letters ('Since My college'), are also present. These errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. To improve, you should focus on mastering basic grammatical agreements, prepositions, and verb patterns, while increasing your control over error-free complex sentences.

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

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