Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-04

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 7.0)

Dear Mr. Smith,

I am writing this letter to request a reduction in my working hours from 1st June 2026 because of my part time study.

I recently secured the admission in a local college in the IT department, and my classes start from the 5th of next month. As I need to attend the classes regularly, I would not be able to continue full-time work. The maximum time I can dedicate per day is 5 hours as I have to utilize remaining time in my studies.

The classes are scheduled from 9am to 2pm, so I will be available for the evening shifts starting from 4pm to 9pm. However, I am fully available on weekends to cover both morning or evening shifts.

As the course covers major IT concepts, I believe that after completing the course I will be skilled enough to manage IT services of your business. This includes maintenance and monitoring of cameras and administration of business website.

I hope you will give my request careful consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Fazal

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response fully addresses all bullet points required by the task prompt, presenting a clear position and purpose from the beginning. You successfully explained why you want to reduce your working hours due to starting an IT course, specified your preferred working hours for evening and weekend shifts, and described how your studies will benefit your employer by helping you manage IT services. The ideas are well extended and supported with relevant details, such as mentioning specific class timings from 9 am to 2 pm and particular tasks like website administration. To move even closer to top-tier performance, you could integrate a slightly broader vision of how your new skills will directly add commercial value to the company's broader operational goals, further elevating the depth of task fulfilment.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.5

Your letter demonstrates a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph serves a distinct purpose, moving smoothly from the initial request to the reasons behind it, the specific schedule, the business benefits, and finally a polite sign-off. You use paragraphing sufficiently and appropriately, keeping related ideas grouped together logically. Cohesive devices such as transitional phrases ('However', 'As the course covers') are handled well to guide the reader through your points. To achieve an even higher level of cohesion, you could experiment with a wider variety of advanced referencing and substitution to make the flow of ideas feel exceptionally seamless and natural.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary that is well-suited to a professional workplace request. You successfully attempt less-common vocabulary items such as 'dedicate', 'administration', and 'maintenance'. However, there are a few minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as writing 'secured the admission in' instead of 'secured admission to', which prevent the lexical score from reaching a higher band. Your spelling and general word choices are clear enough that communication is never impeded. To push into higher bands, focus on mastering natural collocations and prepositional patterns associated with academic and professional nouns, replacing simpler phrases with more idiomatic expressions.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

You display a good control of grammar and punctuation, successfully utilizing a mix of simple and complex sentence structures with frequent error-free sentences. Examples such as 'As the course covers major IT concepts, I believe that after completing the course I will be skilled enough...' show a commendable variety of subordinate clauses. Good control is also maintained over verb tenses and modals, such as 'would not be able to continue' and 'I am writing this letter'. While a few minor lapses persist—such as missing the definite article before 'remaining time' or 'IT department'—these errors do not impede communication. Continuing to polish your command of articles and prepositions within complex grammatical patterns will help secure even greater accuracy.

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