Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-23

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 6.0)

Dear Sir,

I am writing this email to request you to decrease my working hours in order to study part time.

Firstly, reducing working hours would help me to focus on my study and join classes on time which may play a vital role to achieve my academic scores. Also, it is obvious that we should make a healthy balance between study and work to relax our mind and it can boost our daily productivity as well.

Furthermore, I have noticed that our store gets very busy con weekends as compared to other days. So I can work on weekends from opening to closing because I do not have any class on weekends and this can help to distribute extra work load.

Moreover, I am going to join that part time course to learn about hybrid vehicles since we know that technology has changed all the automobile industry, which may directly help to increase our daily car count by taking hybrid car services.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Adam.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The letter addresses all three requested points: you explain that studying will help you focus and attend classes, propose weekend work, and connect your course on hybrid vehicles with the employer’s business. The request is clear and the ideas are relevant. However, some points are less fully developed than others. For example, “from opening to closing” gives a specific availability, but you do not state the reduced hours or days you would work during the week, so the proposed schedule remains incomplete. The benefit to the employer is promising, but explain more directly how your new knowledge could improve services or attract customers. Developing these details would make the response more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The message follows a sensible overall order: it introduces the request, gives reasons, proposes weekend availability, and explains a possible benefit to the store. Paragraphing helps distinguish these points, and linking expressions such as “Firstly,” “Furthermore,” and “Moreover” make the progression easy to follow. At times, however, the links feel mechanical, and the relationship between ideas is not always clear. For instance, the point about maintaining a healthy balance is added to the study reason without showing precisely how it supports the request. The weekend paragraph would also be clearer if it explicitly contrasted your proposed schedule with the hours you want to reduce. Use fewer formulaic transitions and make the connections between each point more explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for a workplace request, including “reduce my working hours,” “healthy balance,” “distribute extra work load,” and “hybrid vehicles.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, and the course-related vocabulary makes the proposed benefit relevant to the employer. Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, though: “on weekends” is more suitable than “on weekends” is not the issue here; rather, “con weekends” appears to be a spelling error, and “daily car count” is unclear in this context. “Academic scores” and “taking hybrid car services” also do not express your intended meaning naturally. Choose precise workplace language, such as explaining that your training could help the store service more hybrid vehicles or attract customers seeking that service.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The letter includes both simple statements and more complex sentences, for example the sentence beginning “Furthermore, I have noticed that our store gets very busy…” and the clause explaining that you have no classes at weekends. Most of the message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors and awkward sentence structures reduce accuracy. In “request you to decrease,” the verb pattern should be “request that you reduce” or “ask you to reduce.” The sentence beginning “Moreover, I am going to join…” is long and its clauses are not joined clearly; the relative clause beginning “which may directly help” has an unclear reference. Review verb patterns and punctuation, and divide long sentences when the relationship between clauses is difficult to follow. This would improve control while preserving your range.

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

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