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 Trevor,

Hope you find this letter well. yesterday i saw the news that BC government launching the part time course for skilled trade workers. So, i enrolled for CNC foundation program as you know i am currently operating CNC machine at you workplace.So, this course will give me more knowledge to understand deeply the machine and will add new skill to my profile.Thatswhy, from nexty month i want to come to work as part time because i want to focus on the study. The working hours will change from 8 am to 12 pm for monday to wednesday. But following days hours will same.Also, i will assign the email and contact number in emergency if you need me. I will skip the class for that day.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Regards,

Jason Mamoa

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The letter partially addresses all bullet points, but the response is underdeveloped in several areas. While you mention why you want to reduce your hours to study CNC machining, and state the specific schedule you prefer, the explanation of how this benefits your employer lacks detail and clarity. Furthermore, the response does not meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, as it contains only 138 words. To reach a higher level, you need to fully develop each bullet point with more elaboration and ensure the length requirement is met.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some organisation to the letter, with an appropriate greeting and sign-off, but the overall progression of ideas feels disjointed. Paragraphing is not used effectively, as nearly all the body of the letter is combined into a single, dense block of text instead of being separated into logical paragraphs for each prompt requirement. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'So' to start sentences, which makes the flow mechanical rather than natural.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, featuring basic terms related to work and study. There are noticeable lexical errors, such as 'at you workplace' instead of 'at your workplace', 'launching the part time course' instead of 'launching a part-time course', and 'from nexty month', which contain spelling mistakes and awkward word choices. While these errors do not completely prevent the reader from understanding your message, they restrict the range of vocabulary and cause some difficulty for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The grammatical range is limited, relying heavily on simple sentence structures and occasionally attempting complex forms that contain errors. There are frequent grammatical mistakes, such as tense and article errors in 'yesterday i saw the news that BC government launching', preposition errors in 'from monday to wednesday' instead of 'from Monday to Wednesday', and capitalization issues at the beginning of sentences and with pronouns like 'i'. These frequent errors require the reader to slow down and can cause some difficulty in comprehension.

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

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