Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-06

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 Smith,

I am writing this regarding to shorten my working hours. This reason behind is that last month i enrolled in a carpentry course, which will start next month, to enhance my theoretical knowledge. Therefore, i would not be able to work full time , so i need to change my work schedule from 8 to 4 hours.

My class will take place on all weekdays from early morning 7 to 11 am. That is why, i would be happier if you could provide my that shift once start at 1:00 pm.

Lastly, This course would not only help me but also would be beneficial for the company. This is because it offers to learn all academic knowledge about our trade. For instance, using some tools efficiently requires technical knowledge. Moreover, How we can make layouts in an appropriate way is the another advantageous of this curriculum.

I hope you would accept my request and give me a work schedule as per my needs.

Yours sincerely,

John,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You successfully address all parts of the task by explaining why you want to reduce your hours, stating your preferred working schedule, and describing how your part-time studies will benefit your employer. Your position is clear throughout the letter, and the purpose of your communication is evident from the beginning. While your ideas are relevant and supported, some points tend to over-generalize slightly, particularly when explaining the exact benefits of the course to the company, which keeps the response at this level. To reach a higher band, you could extend your ideas further by providing more specific, concrete examples of how the carpentry course will directly improve your daily productivity and contributions in the workplace.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

Your letter demonstrates clear logical organization and progression throughout. You make effective use of paragraphing to separate distinct points, starting with your explanation, moving to your preferred hours, and concluding with the company benefits. You also employ cohesive devices such as 'Therefore', 'That is why', and 'Moreover' to guide the reader through your arguments, although some referencing is slightly mechanical. To improve further, you could use a wider and more flexible variety of cohesive devices and ensure smoother transitions between sentences, avoiding repetitive paragraph structures and making the overall flow even more natural.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You display an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'theoretical knowledge', 'efficiently', and 'curriculum'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word form, such as writing 'regarding to shorten' instead of 'regarding shortening', and using 'advantageous' as a noun instead of 'advantage'. These lexical errors do not impede communication, but they reflect the constraints of this band. To achieve a higher band, you need to expand your lexical repertoire and demonstrate greater precision in word choice and collocations, while minimizing errors in word forms and spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to handle more intricate structures like conditional and causal clauses. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, including lowercase pronouns like 'i', unnecessary commas, and awkward phrasing such as 'provide my that shift once start at 1:00 pm'. These errors occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a limited command of grammatical structures. To move up, you should focus on increasing your stock of error-free complex sentences, ensuring better control over subject-verb agreement, prepositions, and punctuation.

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

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