Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-01

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 hope you are doing well . i am writing you to ask you for reducing my working hours in the morning so that i can study for my license exam of pharmacy .

As you know that as a pharmacy assistant ,i work for morning till night ,that is from 7 till 7 . i am pretty satisfied with my work ,however ,now i believe i should update my profile for which i have to appear in the pharmacy license exam .For the purpose , i want to study in the morning with my group of friends . They all are studying in the morning in the downtown library and i wish to join them .Hence , i ask you to give me some relaxation for 2 months so that i may qualify this exam . This will definitel be crucuala for my current job position too since ei would be more equipped with knowledge and would be licensed .

kindly let me know if you can do some arrangement in my morning timings from 7 to 9 and i wiwll join by 9.30.

thank you

regards

lily

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three requested points: you explain that you need time to prepare for a pharmacy licensing exam, request a change to your hours, and state that becoming licensed would strengthen your contribution at work. The purpose is clear and relevant throughout. The benefit to your employer is present in “more equipped with knowledge and would be licensed,” but it would be stronger if you explained more specifically how this could improve your work, such as supporting customers with greater expertise. The proposed schedule is also somewhat unclear: “from 7 to 9” and “join by 9.30” do not explicitly say when your shift would finish. Clarifying the exact working hours and developing the employer benefit would make the request more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter follows a generally sensible order: you introduce your request, explain your study plans, describe the proposed change, and close politely. Linking expressions such as “however,” “For the purpose,” and “Hence” help show relationships between ideas, and the reader can follow your main message. Some connections feel mechanical or unclear, particularly “For the purpose” and “Hence,” while the long middle section combines several points without a clear paragraph break. The schedule details are also difficult to follow because the requested morning adjustment and your proposed 9.30 start are not clearly reconciled. Use separate paragraphs for the reason, the exact schedule, and the benefit to your employer, with simpler transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the situation, including “pharmacy license exam,” “profile,” “downtown library,” and “licensed,” so the reader understands your plans. There are also attempts at more formal expressions, such as “I am writing you to ask” and “I may qualify this exam,” but some choices are inaccurate or unnatural and reduce precision. Spelling errors such as “definitel,” “crucuala,” and “wiwll” are noticeable, and phrases like “give me some relaxation” do not express the intended workplace arrangement naturally. Aim for accurate, conventional collocations and proofread spelling. For example, request a “temporary reduction in my hours” and say you hope to “pass the licensing examination.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “however” and a reason clause beginning “so that.” These structures help communicate the request, and the overall meaning remains understandable. However, some grammatical errors recur: “I am writing you to ask you for reducing” has an incorrect verb pattern, and “as a pharmacy assistant, I work for morning till night” has problems with the preposition and sentence construction. The sentence beginning “As you know that” also combines an unnecessary “that” with an awkward clause. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including lowercase sentence openings and spaces before full stops. Practise standard request forms such as “I am writing to ask whether I could…” and check sentence boundaries and verb patterns.

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

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