Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-22

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 Sir,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to request about my working hours that I want to reduce these hours because of my part time study.

Firstly, I want to tell you that, I want to continue my postgraduate diploma in a university evening classes. That's why I would like to decrease my job time to make time for part time classes.

Moreover, I want to inform you about my unavailability at clinic evening shift because I want to do only morning shift from 8am to 2pm at the rehabilitation center. Therefore, decrease my job hours at clinic.

Lastly, I believe that, this course will not only beneficial for me but for you as well because after completing this my knowledge about patients such as their examination, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment would increase. In addition to this, this course would also fulfil the council requirements about clinical staff.

I hope you will understand my situation and would also reduce my clinical working hours.

I am looking forward for your prompt response.

Yours sincerely,

Nosheen

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The letter addresses all three requirements and maintains a clear, polite request. You explain that evening university classes are the reason for reducing your hours, specify a morning shift from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and describe benefits to the clinic, including stronger knowledge of examination, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment, as well as meeting council requirements. These details make the purpose clear and support your request. The employer benefit is relevant, though it is somewhat general: you could explain more directly how the new knowledge would improve patient care or contribute to the clinic’s work. Overall, the key ideas are extended and supported, with some scope to make the benefit more specific.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter follows a sensible progression: it introduces the request, gives the reason and proposed schedule, explains the benefit to the employer, and closes politely. Paragraphing helps distinguish these stages, and signposts such as “Firstly,” “Moreover,” and “Lastly” make the sequence easy to follow. This is a coherent overall arrangement. However, the repeated sequencing words make some connections feel mechanical, and “Therefore, decrease my job hours at clinic” does not link smoothly to the preceding sentence. The request is also repeated in the opening and closing without adding much. To strengthen progression, use fewer formulaic transitions and connect the reason, schedule and request more naturally.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for a workplace letter, including relevant terms such as “postgraduate diploma,” “rehabilitation center,” “prognosis” and “clinical staff.” These choices communicate the subject clearly and show some topic-specific range. However, several phrases are imprecise or unnatural, such as “request about my working hours,” “decrease my job time,” and “fulfil the council requirements.” “Part time” also needs a hyphen when used before a noun, as in “part-time classes.” These word-choice and collocation issues do not prevent understanding, but they limit precision and naturalness. Aim to learn common workplace collocations and choose verbs that express the request and its benefits directly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes both simple sentences and attempts at more complex structures, particularly “this course will not only … but … as well” and “because after completing this…”. The main message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “I am writing this letter to request about my working hours that I want to reduce these hours” has an awkward clause structure, while “this course will not only beneficial” is missing the verb “be.” There are also issues with articles and sentence construction in “in a university evening classes” and “Therefore, decrease my job hours at clinic.” Work on forming a direct request in one clear sentence, and check verb forms, articles and complete clauses before submitting.

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

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