Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-13
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 mr smit,
i hope you will be happly fine there. I am writing this letter to inform you about some update that is i want to extent my stay in your appartment more than agreed period.
Firstly, i want to discuss with you that decided to stay more in appartment because i have some academical issues. i have missed my one paeper of math so now i am going to given that in saplimentary exam for this i want to extant my day in this appartment.
Actully my plan changed now due to my studies. i want to attend my suplimentary exam for that i will stay here beacause this appartment is near to my collage.
All things is ok in this beautiful appartment but i am facing some problem of shortage water. yesterday when i was preparing my breakfast that,s time the water was off due to this i was very upset .
I hope you must pay attention toward my emergency need and problem. i am waiting for your prompt reply.
your sincerely.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The candidate successfully covers all three bullet points required by the task prompt. First, the writer states the desire to extend the stay beyond the original six months by asking to 'extent my stay in your appartment more than agreed period'. Second, the change in plans is explained by mentioning academic issues and a supplementary mathematics exam close to the college. Third, a problem regarding a shortage of water is reported, specifically noting an incident during breakfast preparation. The tone is appropriately semi-formal for a landlord-tenant correspondence. While some ideas, such as the explanation of the academic issues, are slightly repetitive and under-developed, all required functional parts of the letter are clearly addressed. Therefore, the task is adequately fulfilled, corresponding to a Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The letter exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing that separates the introduction, the purpose of the letter, the explanation for the change of plans, the apartment issue, and the closing. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, the transition 'Actully my plan changed now due to my studies' feels abrupt and overlaps with the previous paragraph's explanation. Pronoun referencing and conjunctions are sometimes misused, such as 'for this i want to extant my day' or 'that,s time'. Paragraph progression is logical enough for the reader to follow the message without significant confusion, supporting a Band 6.0 performance under coherence and cohesion criteria.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to communicate everyday situations and requests. The writer employs some less common vocabulary items such as 'supplementary exam' and 'emergency need', but these are accompanied by frequent spelling and word-choice errors, including 'happly', 'appartment', 'extent' (instead of extend), 'academical', 'paeper', 'saplimentary', 'Actully', and 'collage'. Although these errors are noticeable and occur throughout the response, they rarely impede overall communication because the context remains understandable. This lexical profile aligns well with the Band 5.5 descriptors, showing a minimally adequate range with persistent errors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'I am writing this letter to inform you about some update that is i want to extent...' and 'yesterday when i was preparing my breakfast that,s time the water was off'. Grammatical control is weak, with frequent errors in verb forms ('is i want', 'going to given'), punctuation (missing capitalization at the start of sentences, missing apostrophes), and prepositions. The majority of complex sentences contain errors, and basic punctuation conventions are often neglected. Nevertheless, the meaning of the sentences is generally retrievable. This performance fits the Band 5.0 descriptors, where a limited range of structures is attempted and frequent errors cause some difficulty.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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