Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-01

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 4.5)

Dear Mr Smith

Security cameras are very important in today world for safety.

I am writing this letter to concern about the security camera you have recently installed because that point towards my property.

I have noticed your front security camera covering my front yard Although, I know you did this by mistake. But I am worried about my privacy. I always worried to do anything at my front yard.

It is effecting me alot in many ways I cannot do get-together in my front yard because my guests are always not sure if they are getting recorded or not.

I would like to suggest you if you can change the camera position that would be really helpful. Moreover, if changing position is not possible please do some privacy settings so it cannot record my side. I am pretty sure modern cameras should have these kind of settings.

I hope you will consider my request and resolve this problem ASAP.

Sincerely,

John

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The response suffers from a major issue regarding the prompt instructions. Instead of writing about extending a rental agreement and a property maintenance issue, the letter is entirely about a security camera dispute with a neighbour. Because the communication fails to address the specific bullet points required by the task prompt, such as stating the desired rental duration and explaining changing plans, the content only addresses the task minimally and tangentially. The inclusion of the unrelated security camera topic means that core parts of the prompt are completely missed, placing this response at the lower end of the achievement spectrum.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is some basic organisation in the letter, with an opening salutation and paragraph breaks used to separate different thoughts. However, the overall progression is heavily impacted by the off-topic content. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes inaccurate, such as starting a sentence with 'Although, I know you did this by mistake. But I am worried...', which creates fragmented and choppy transitions. Paragraphing is attempted to separate the problem from the suggestions, but referencing is occasionally unclear, making the flow somewhat mechanical and difficult to follow logically throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited and minimally adequate for the task. The writer attempts some functional language ('security cameras', 'privacy settings', 'resolve this problem'), but there are noticeable errors in word choice and phrasing, such as 'I am writing this letter to concern about' instead of 'to express concern about', and 'It is effecting me alot' using the incorrect verb form 'effecting' instead of 'affecting' along with informal spelling 'alot'. These lexical slips and repetitive basic structures mean the vocabulary is just sufficient to convey the basic message, though it causes some difficulty.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences with frequent attempts at more complex forms that turn out faulty. There are noticeable errors in grammar, punctuation, and prepositions, such as missing articles ('in today world'), sentence fragments ('Although, I know you did this by mistake. But I am worried...'), and incorrect punctuation handling. Furthermore, phrases like 'these kind of settings' display agreement errors. These frequent errors require the reader to occasionally puzzle over the meaning, representing a restricted grammatical control.

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