Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-23

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Five months ago, you started renting an apartment on a six-month agreement. You now wish to stay in the apartment for longer than the six months you originally agreed with the owner.

Write a letter to the owner of your apartment. In your letter

• say how long you now want to rent the apartment for
• explain why your plans have changed
• tell the owner about a problem in the apartment

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ....................................,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear sir,

I'm really thankful to you that you gave me an apartment as per my need and I spent really good time here and you helped me when I was struggling to find an apartment moreover,as the tenure is going to end i would like to request you that kindly give me permission to live here for more time because I was supposed to get promotion by my boss and I was thinking that I'll no longer live here but he gave the promotion to someone else therefore I've to live here until I don't get promoted because as of now I don't Even have my own apartment and I would like to rent the apartment for approximately 1 year furthermore I forgot to inform you that there are some problems in the accomodation such as lickage,cilling problem etc. so kindly look after it because I've been facing these issues since I moved to this apartment and I'd be so grateful to you if you would bring about changes in this accomodation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task: stating the desired duration, explaining the change in plans, and reporting maintenance issues. However, the response is written as a single, long paragraph, which makes it difficult to read and impacts the professional tone required for a formal letter. While the ideas are relevant, they are somewhat underdeveloped; for instance, the explanation regarding the promotion is a bit repetitive and lacks clarity. To improve, ensure each bullet point is addressed in a distinct paragraph to provide a clearer structure and more professional presentation.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter lacks paragraphing, which is a significant issue for coherence. The entire response is one long block of text, making it difficult for the reader to follow the progression of ideas. While you use some cohesive devices like 'moreover', 'furthermore', and 'therefore', they are often used to link clauses within a single run-on sentence rather than to structure the letter logically. To reach a higher band, you must use paragraph breaks to separate the introduction, the body points, and the closing. This would make your writing much more organised and easier to navigate.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but there are several spelling errors and word-choice issues that detract from the professional tone. For example, 'lickage' (leakage) and 'cilling' (ceiling) are misspelled. Additionally, 'accomodation' is misspelled (accommodation). While you attempt to use some formal language, the phrasing is sometimes awkward, such as 'bring about changes in this accomodation'. To improve, focus on accurate spelling of common household terms and try to use more precise collocations to express your needs clearly to the landlord.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The grammar is characterized by a lack of punctuation, which leads to several run-on sentences. For example, the first sentence is extremely long and lacks proper full stops, making it difficult to parse. There are also errors in verb tense and article usage, such as 'I'll no longer live here' instead of 'I would no longer be living here'. While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of sentence boundaries and frequent punctuation errors significantly limit the range and accuracy of your writing. Focusing on using shorter, grammatically complete sentences would greatly improve your score.

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

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