Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

 

You started in your present job two years ago. You now feel it is important for your career development to move to a different department in the same company.

Write a letter to your manager. In your letter

• say what you have learned in your present job
• suggest how the company would benefit from moving you to a different department
• explain why you do not wish to leave the company

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

DEAR SIR,

I AM WRITING THIS LRTTER TO ASK YOU FOR I THINK I MOVED TO DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT, AND IN MY PERESENT DEPARTMENT I WAS JOINED TO PAST TWO YEARS. I WOULD CHANGE DEPARTMENT IS BETTER FOR MY FUTURE CAREER.

FIRST OF ALL, I GAIN VALUABLE EXPERIENCE IN MY CORRENT DEPARTMENT, AND I HAVE MANAGE MY DAILY RESPONSIBILITIES ESSEALY. IN ADDITION, I HAVE IMPROVEMENT IN MY COMMUNICATION, AND TIME-MANAGEMENT SKILLS.

I BELIVE THAT IT IS VERY BENEFICAL FOR THE COMPANY, BECAUSE I HAVE EXPERIENCE IN MY PRESENT DEPARTMENT SO I WOULD APPLY TO MY GAINING EXPARIENCE IN DEFFERENT WAYS. I WOULD LIKE TO GAINING EXPERIENCE ALLOVER COMPANY OPERATIONS.

HOWEVER, I DO NOT MOVE TO ANOTHER COMPANY, BECAUSE I ENJOY THERE WORKING ENVIRENMENT AND ALSO I HAVE BETTER BONDING WITH MY COULEAGES.

I HOPE YOU CONSIDER MY REQUAST TO MOVE OTHER DEPARTMENT AND DICUSE WITH ME FOR THIS TYPE ANY OPPORTUNITY.

YOURS FAITHFULY,

SAAD SHAIKH

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all the required bullet points from the prompt, earning a solid score for fulfilling the communicative requirements of a general training letter. You clearly state what you have learned in your present job, mentioning your improved communication and time-management skills. You also suggest how the company would benefit by stating that you can apply your gained experience to different operations across the company, and you explain why you wish to stay, pointing out the positive working environment and your strong bonding with colleagues. However, some of these ideas remain slightly under-developed or repetitive, such as the explanation of company benefits, which prevents the response from achieving a higher rating. The tone is appropriately semi-formal for a workplace request, and the overall purpose of the letter is easily understood throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing that separates the introduction, the body points, and the concluding remarks. Each paragraph focuses on a distinct aspect of the prompt, ensuring the reader can easily follow the progression of your ideas. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases like 'HOWEVER' are misused to introduce your reason for staying rather than showing a contrast, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in sentences like 'I would apply to my gaining experience in different ways.' To reach the next level, you need to employ a wider and more natural range of cohesive devices and ensure that referencing within and between sentences is smoother and more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common business and workplace items such as 'career development', 'daily responsibilities', and 'working environment'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors throughout the text, including 'LRTTER' for letter, 'PERESENT' for present, 'CORRENT' for current, 'ESSEALY' for easily, 'BELIVE' for believe, 'BENEFICAL' for beneficial, 'ENVIRENMENT' for environment, 'COULEAGES' for colleagues, 'REQUAST' for request, and 'DICUSE' for discuss. Additionally, there are word choice and word formation inaccuracies, such as using 'gaining experience' instead of 'gained experience' or 'gain experience'. These errors indicate a limited but minimally adequate lexical control, meaning your vocabulary is sufficient to communicate your message, but the frequent slips impact the fluency and precision of your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response features a very limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few attempts at complex forms that are often faulty. There are frequent grammatical errors in verb forms, tenses, and preposition usage that regularly cause difficulty for the reader. For example, the opening sentence contains a major structural breakdown: 'I AM WRITING THIS LRTTER TO ASK YOU FOR I THINK I MOVED TO DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT'. Other errors include tense confusion ('in my pesesent department I was joined to past two years' instead of 'have been in') and missing articles ('to different department'). Punctuation and capitalization also show frequent inaccuracies. To improve, you need to develop better control over basic sentence patterns, ensure correct verb tenses, and practice forming complex clauses accurately.

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

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