Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-08

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 Zain,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing this letter to inform you about my decision to pursure higher studies as a part time student and request to decrease my hours in store.

Firstly, i would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to work at your store. After careful consideration of my skills and my availablity, I came to conclusion that i need to spend more time on my analytical skills to become a good analyst, in order to achieve that i would request you to reduce my working hours. I would really appreciate if you can accomodate my request.

I am available to work of friday, saturday and sunday. I would prefer working on saturday's and sunday's as those are my day's off at school. Also pursuing Business analytics means that i would be learning more about how to integrate the data and translate into valueable insights, which can greatly benefit the store. Also i am confident that i posses necessary soft skills which helps store to retain customer and increase overall customer satisfaction.

Again thank you soo much for the opportunity and i look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Sincerely,

Kanil

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The letter addresses all three requested points: you explain that you want to develop your analytical skills, state that you can work on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and describe how business analytics and your customer-service skills could help the store. The purpose is clear and the tone is appropriately polite. However, the proposed schedule is not fully precise: you say you would prefer Saturdays and Sundays but do not clarify whether Friday is also part of your preferred arrangement or how many hours you are requesting. The benefits to the employer are relevant, though they are asserted rather than illustrated with a specific example. Clarifying the exact hours and developing one practical workplace benefit would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall structure, moving from the request and its reason to your availability and the potential benefits, before closing politely. Paragraphing helps the reader follow these stages, and phrases such as “Firstly” and “Also” signal connections between ideas. Some linking is mechanical, however, and the second main paragraph combines several points in a long sequence, making the schedule and employer benefits less distinct. The relationship between being available Friday through Sunday and preferring only Saturday and Sunday could also be made clearer. Use separate, focused sentences or paragraphs for the requested schedule and the benefits, and connect ideas more naturally to strengthen progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for a workplace request, including relevant terms such as “analytical skills,” “Business analytics,” “integrate the data,” and “customer satisfaction.” These choices communicate your intended meaning, and the polite expressions suit the letter. Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or imprecise, though: “decrease my hours in store” is less natural than “reduce my working hours at the store,” while “translate into valuable insights” needs an object or clearer phrasing. There are also spelling errors, including “pursure,” “availablity,” “accomodate,” and “posses.” Proofreading spelling and choosing more natural workplace collocations would improve precision and control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response includes both simple sentences and more complex structures, for example the sentence beginning “After careful consideration…” and the clause explaining how your studies could benefit the store. Meaning remains clear throughout, but some grammatical errors occur. In “I came to conclusion,” an article is needed (“the conclusion”); “I would really appreciate if” requires “it” after “appreciate”; and “I am available to work of Friday” uses an incorrect preposition. There are also agreement and punctuation issues in “soft skills which helps store,” where the plural subject requires “help” and “the store” is needed. Review articles, prepositions, agreement and sentence boundaries while retaining your varied sentence forms.

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