Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-05

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 Aman,

I am hoping that you are doing well. I am writing this letter to inform you regarding stay at my home. I want to tell you that I will be not at home and not able to pick you up from the station due to emergency at my workplace I have to rush their. But don't get upset I will be at home by evening. Moreover, make yourself comfortable and get the keys from my neighbor as I gave the keys them and tell them to gave you breakfast. So, don't hesitate to take it. Well, as I am not able to come at train station but I already booked a taxi for you do be afraid as I forward you the taxi driver number so when you arrived at station just call him and he take you to home. At last I want tell you that I already made a plan to go cinema and bought two tickets for your favorite show and we can also crash a dinner at Italian restaurant.

I hope you like my plan.

Warm regards,

Surpreet

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt: explaining the key arrangements, providing directions from the station, and suggesting evening activities. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a family member. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For example, the explanation regarding the keys is a bit confusing ('I gave the keys them'), and the directions rely entirely on a pre-booked taxi rather than providing actual navigation instructions. While the task requirements are met, the content could be more clearly articulated to ensure the reader fully understands the logistics.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter follows a logical progression, moving from the apology for your absence to the practical arrangements and finally the evening plans. You use some basic cohesive devices like 'Moreover' and 'At last', though these feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is absent, which is a significant issue for a formal or semi-formal letter; you should have separated the introduction, the body paragraphs for the instructions, and the closing. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'I gave the keys them', which makes the flow of information slightly disjointed.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. You rely on simple, repetitive phrasing such as 'I am writing this letter to inform you' and 'I want to tell you'. There are also several word-choice errors, such as 'crash a dinner' (which is not a standard collocation; 'have dinner' or 'grab dinner' would be better) and 'rush their' (should be 'rush there'). While the meaning is generally clear, the range of vocabulary is limited and does not demonstrate the flexibility required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text that occasionally impede readability. Examples include 'I will be not at home', 'I gave the keys them', 'tell them to gave you', and 'I forward you the taxi driver number'. These errors involve tense usage, word order, and verb forms. While you attempt some complex sentences, they are often marred by these inaccuracies. To improve, focus on basic sentence construction and subject-verb agreement. The punctuation is generally functional, but the lack of sentence variety limits your score in this criterion.

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

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