Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-05

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 Dan,

I hope you have a safe and wonderful journey, and welcome to my house. I am writing this letter to express important information regarding your arrival and pick up.

Due to some urgent work i will not able for picking up you from the railway station and am also not be at home. I apologise for this circumstance, and it would be a great to me if you take an uber or taxi service to reach our house.

The keys are in the letter box compartment, and you can use those keys for open the house.In addition, i cooked some pasta for you and I keep that in the fridge, you can heat it up and eat.

The house has wi-fi facilities and the password I alreday sent to you with the house address.

I will be reach home by evening 6 pm, and after that we can go for a dinner in the downtown therfore, YPou will get more information about our locality.

I hope you understand the situation and eagrly waiting for see you there.

Yours sincerlly

Adam.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the main purpose of the letter, but covers the required bullet points only partially and with limited development. While you mention the keys in the letter box and give instructions to take an Uber or taxi, other parts of the prompt are underdeveloped. For instance, explaining how to get from the station is overly brief and generic, lacking specific directions or local landmarks. Similarly, your suggestion for what to do together in the evening is limited to going for dinner downtown, without elaborating further on the plans. To reach higher bands, every bullet point must be fully extended and supported with relevant details that bring the scenario to life.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear beginning and ending, allowing the reader to follow the basic sequence of events. Paragraphs are used to separate different topics, such as arrival arrangements, house details, and evening plans. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For example, the transition between sentences feels abrupt in places, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as how ideas flow from the fridge instructions into the wi-fi details. While cohesive devices like 'In addition' are employed, they are sometimes used rigidly. To improve, you should ensure smoother logical transitions between your ideas and employ a more natural variety of connecting words.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is minimally adequate for the task, providing enough everyday words to communicate your basic message, but the range is limited. You attempt some less common expressions, such as 'express important information' and 'apologise for this circumstance', but these contain unnatural collocations or word choices. There are also noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that occasionally cause difficulty, such as 'alreday' instead of already, 'sincerlly' instead of sincerely, and writing 'YPou' with a capitalization slip. To achieve a higher band, you need to expand your lexical repertoire, use more precise and natural phrases appropriate for informal correspondence, and carefully check your spelling before finishing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing demonstrates a limited range of grammatical structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few faulty attempts at complex ones. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the letter, such as missing auxiliary verbs and incorrect prepositions, including 'i will not able for picking up you', 'it would be a great to me', 'for open the house', and 'I will be reach home'. Furthermore, punctuation errors and capitalization issues are present, such as lowercase 'i' used independently. These errors frequently cause difficulty for the reader. To improve your grammar, focus on mastering verb patterns, modal verbs, infinitive structures, and careful proofreading to eliminate basic errors.

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

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