Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-22

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 7.0)

Dear Sir,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing to inform you that I am planning to extend my agreement for the apartment I have rented. Originally, it was for only six months. Now, I wish to extend it to two years.

Initially, I moved to this city for a six-month internship. As it is coming to an end, my company has offerend me a role in the management sector for eighteen months. After consulting with my parents, I have decided to accept this offer, as this will help me gain relevent experience in my field. As my current apartment is close to the company, it will be convenient for me to travel to the office everyday.

However, I would like to talk about an ongoing problem in my apartment. The stove in the kitchen is not working properly for the past week, and I have been eating outside food. This has started affecting my health. I request to get that repaired so that I can cook at home as well.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Tayyaba

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response7.0
Coherence and Cohesion7.5
Lexical Resource6.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy7.0
Overall7.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have successfully covered all three bullet points required in the task prompt. First, you clearly state how long you want to extend your stay, moving from the original six months to two years. Second, you provide a clear explanation for this change in plans, mentioning your internship ending and your company offering you an eighteen-month management role. Third, you successfully inform the owner about a problem in the apartment by describing the malfunctioning kitchen stove and its impact on your health. The tone of the letter is appropriate for communicating with an apartment owner, and the purpose of the letter is fully clear from the beginning. All parts of the prompt are addressed well, and ideas are sufficiently extended, meeting the criteria for a solid performance at this level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

Your letter has a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. You make appropriate use of paragraphing to separate different topics, such as the lease extension in the first paragraph, the explanation of your changed plans in the second, and the maintenance issue in the third. You use cohesive devices effectively, such as 'Initially', 'As it is coming to an end', and 'However', which help guide the reader smoothly through the letter. Referencing is clear, and the overall arrangement of information follows a natural and easy-to-follow chronological and thematic order, fitting the descriptors for a well-structured general correspondence task.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary for this task, allowing for some flexibility and precision. You successfully use less common items and appropriate collocations such as 'extend my agreement', 'management sector', and 'ongoing problem'. However, there are a few minor lexical errors, such as spelling 'offerend' instead of 'offered', and 'relevent' instead of 'relevant'. Additionally, the phrase 'eating outside food' is slightly unnatural; a more native collocation would be 'eating out' or 'relying on takeout'. Despite these occasional inaccuracies, your vocabulary is varied enough to convey your meaning clearly and precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

You show good control of grammar and punctuation, utilizing a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. Examples of complex sentences include 'As it is coming to an end, my company has offered me a role in the management sector for eighteen months' and 'As my current apartment is close to the company, it will be convenient for me to travel to the office everyday.' You produce many error-free sentences, though there is a minor prepositional error with 'for the past week' where 'over the past week' or 'for the past week' should be accompanied by the present perfect continuous tense ('has not been working properly'). Punctuation is generally accurate, and your grammatical errors do not impede communication at all.

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

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