Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-17

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 apartment owner,

i am just informing you to regarding i have change my mind about instead of chnaging this aprtment we will stay over here approximately half year more.

we made plan to move to another location just because of my pregnancy. Now, we are planning to stay in this apartment because we are suffering rom financial crisis. as i also want to file visitor visa of my parents, thats taking huge amont of money. So moving or adjusting in other place would be create more difficulty in our financial life. Apart from this, as my due date is coming very soon, shifting or travelling would be more hazardous for me in this condition. We do not want to make any complications in terms of pregnancy.So we decided to live here for more six months. besdies this, i just let you know about we have a such issue in this aprtment as our neighbours.They create alot of noise at night time which create difficulty while sleeping. As i mentioned it would be also make difficulty for our baby and our parents, they cannot be tolerate it due to their ages. so please let them know about our problem.

Thanks alot for your understanding.

Your sincerely

Pawan saggu

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have covered all three bullet points required in the task instructions. You clearly stated that you want to extend your stay by approximately another half year, explained your change of plans due to an unexpected financial crisis caused by visitor visa expenses and a forthcoming pregnancy, and raised the issue regarding noisy neighbours disrupting sleep. However, the tone and register fluctuate, and the delivery is somewhat informal and unstructured in places. While all parts are addressed, the ideas would benefit from a more formal letter structure and a clearer purpose right from the opening sentence. Therefore, this performance aligns well with Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

Your letter shows an overall coherent arrangement, and the reader can follow your progression of ideas from your lease extension to your reasons and finally to the neighbour issue. However, paragraphing is not used effectively; the entire body of the letter is lumped into a single large block of text, which makes it harder to read. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly placed, such as 'besdies this, i just let you know about', and referencing is occasionally unclear. To achieve a higher band, you need to break your letter into distinct paragraphs for each main point and use smoother transition phrases.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary to communicate your message, with phrases like 'financial crisis', 'visitor visa', and 'complications in terms of pregnancy'. However, there are numerous word choice and spelling inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'chnaging', 'aprtment', 'rom', 'amont', 'hazardous', and 'tolerate it'. You also rely heavily on simple vocabulary and make frequent errors in collocations, such as 'filing visitor visa' instead of 'applying for a visitor visa'. These lexical slips and spelling errors occasionally require the reader to re-read your sentences, placing your vocabulary in the Band 5 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You demonstrate an attempt at a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'Now, we are planning to stay in this apartment because we are suffering rom financial crisis.' However, your writing contains frequent grammatical errors, including missing articles ('filing visitor visa', 'in financial life'), incorrect prepositions ('adjusting in other place'), and punctuation or capitalisation issues ('i am just informing', 'Thanks alot'). Furthermore, run-on sentences and fragments like 'So moving or adjusting in other place would be create more difficulty' show poor control over complex verb structures. These frequent errors occasionally impede communication, placing your grammar at Band 5.

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

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