Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-30

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 Amit,

I am writing to inform you that i will not be there at home at the time of your arrival.I have kept the keys under the doormat so that you can easily get into the house.

Aftaer reaching at the train station , get the rickshaw to the Teachers colony. You will dropped just at the doorstep of our house.

I will soon come in the evening at 5p.m. and join you all. We will play chess, ludo, play station and uno. We will also enjoy cooking and having meals together.

I look forward to see you in the evening.

Best Wishes,

Alex Smith

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You successfully covered all three bullet points required in the prompt: you explained how Amit will get the keys under the doormat, gave clear directions from the train station to Teachers colony, and stated when you would be home while suggesting evening activities. The tone is appropriately informal and friendly. However, your response has a major drawback regarding length: it contains only 106 words, falling significantly short of the 150-word minimum requirement for General Training Task 1. Because of this under-length issue, the task cannot be fully developed, which severely caps your score for this criterion despite the content points being present.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

Your letter has a clear, logical overall arrangement that follows the progression of Amit's arrival from the station to the evening activities. You used basic cohesive devices such as 'so that', 'Aftaer reaching', and 'and' to connect your ideas. Paragraphing is attempted, though the spacing and structure could be managed better. Referencing is generally clear, for example, using 'you' and 'I' appropriately. However, the cohesion is somewhat mechanical, and the lack of a proper closing paragraph affects the overall flow. The spacing errors and abrupt transitions prevent you from achieving a higher score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You used an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday concepts such as 'doormat', 'train station', 'rickshaw', and various games like 'chess', 'ludo', and 'uno'. There are a few spelling and typographical errors, such as 'i' instead of 'I' and 'Aftaer' instead of 'After'. You attempted some common functional phrases, but the lexical range remains quite basic and lacks less common lexical items or idiomatic expressions that would elevate the writing. Nevertheless, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning without impeding the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You demonstrated a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as the conditional-like structure in 'I have kept the keys under the doormat so that you can easily get into the house.' There are, however, several grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text. These include capitalization issues ('i will', '5p.m.'), missing prepositions or incorrect verb forms in phrases like 'I will soon come in the evening at 5p.m.' and 'I look forward to see you' (which should be 'seeing'), and spacing errors around commas and periods ('arrival.I', 'station , get'). Despite these inaccuracies, they rarely impede overall communication.

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

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