Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-14

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 Aunt,

I am so excited to see you and spend time with you.

I want to applogize to you that I will be away on your arrival date until evening. But I will give the keys to my neighbours and She will help you to get in and give you company until I wont be there.

When you gett off the train, make sure to turn right to reach the bus stop and take the bus 323 to my home and it will stop right in front of my home.

I will be there around 5pm and we can go out for dinner and watch movie together.

See you soon.

Thank you

Warm regards

Supriya

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address the three main points: you explain that a neighbour will provide the keys, give a bus route from the station, and say you expect to be home at 5 p.m. with a suggestion to go out for dinner and watch a film. However, the arrangements are only partly clear: “my neighbours” is plural, but “She” suggests one person, and you do not explain how your aunt will contact or identify the neighbour. The directions also need more detail, such as the journey’s duration or a landmark. The evening plan is relevant but brief. The response is 116 words, so it does not meet the 150-word minimum. Develop each arrangement with practical details to address the task more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The message follows a sensible order: greeting, apology and key arrangements, travel directions, then your arrival and evening plans. This makes the main information easy to locate, and the simple links between ideas are generally clear. However, the response is presented as one short block, so paragraphing could better separate the arrangements, directions and plans. The shift from “my neighbours” to “She” also makes the reference unclear. A more developed sequence of instructions would improve progression—for example, explain first where the keys are, then how to reach the house, and finally what to do if there is a problem. Overall, the organisation is coherent, though cohesion and referencing are not always fully controlled.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough everyday vocabulary to communicate the purpose of the letter, including “keys,” “bus stop,” “train,” and “go out for dinner.” The tone is friendly and appropriate for a relative. However, the range is limited, and several spelling or word-choice errors are noticeable: “applogize,” “gett,” and “watch movie.” “Give you company” is also an unnatural collocation. These errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, but they reduce precision and fluency. Try using more specific expressions for practical arrangements, such as “leave the spare key with” or “the bus stops outside my house,” and check spelling and articles before finishing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You communicate the main ideas using simple sentences and make an attempt at a longer sentence with “But I will give the keys to my neighbours and She will help you…”. This shows some ability to connect clauses, but the sentence is not well controlled: the pronoun does not agree clearly with “neighbours,” and the clause “until I wont be there” is awkwardly formed. Other issues include “I will be away on your arrival date until evening,” which needs clearer time phrasing, and “watch movie,” which is missing an article. Most sentences remain simple, so there is limited variety. Practise accurate complex sentences and review agreement, articles, and future-time expressions.

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