Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-04

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

A family member is coming to stay with you. He/she will be arriving by train in the morning, but you won’t be home until the evening.

• explain arrangements you have made for them to have keys and get into the house

• tell your relative how to get from the train station to your house

• say when you will be home and suggest what you could do together that evening

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Amber,

How are things going? I hope everything is going well with you. I'm so excited to have here with me. I can't wait to see you.

However, I won't be able to pick you up from the train station, because I have an important meeting at work in the morning. Therefore, I have arranged a new plan. I left the keys of my house with my neighbor Ms Smith, she lives next door you can collect the keys from her house!

Also, after you arrive her, you can take an ober to get you here, it's not expressive, it only cost 10 dollars.

I will be home by 8.00 pm, we can go out after and grab dinner at your favourite restaurant, and catch up with each other!, if you are not tired from your journy of course.

I can't wait to see you soon,

Best wishes,

Amanda

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task. You clearly explained the key arrangements with your neighbor, provided instructions for getting from the station to your house, and specified your arrival time along with a suggestion for the evening. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a family member. However, the development of ideas is somewhat brief. To reach a higher band, you could provide more specific details, such as the name of the train station or a specific restaurant you have in mind, to make the communication feel more authentic and fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, and the progression of ideas is clear. You use some cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Therefore', and 'Also' to link your thoughts. However, there are some issues with punctuation that affect the flow, such as the comma splice in 'Ms Smith, she lives next door' and the run-on sentence structure in the second paragraph. Improving the use of punctuation and varying your linking words would help the text flow more naturally and improve the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You use a range of vocabulary appropriate for a personal letter, such as 'arranged', 'collect', and 'favourite'. However, there are several spelling errors ('ober' for Uber, 'expressive' for expensive, 'journy' for journey) and minor word choice issues. While these do not prevent the reader from understanding your message, they indicate a need for more careful proofreading. To improve, focus on using more precise vocabulary and ensuring the correct spelling of common terms to demonstrate a more flexible and accurate range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'I'm so excited to have here with me' (missing object 'you'), 'after you arrive her' (incorrect preposition/adverb usage), and 'it only cost 10 dollars' (subject-verb agreement error). While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication. To achieve a higher score, you should aim for greater accuracy in your verb tenses and sentence construction, and ensure that your punctuation is used correctly to separate independent clauses.

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

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