Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-19

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

New neighbours have recently moved into the house/flat next door to where you live. You have examinations soon, but your neighbours play music late at night which is affecting your studies and sleep.

• explain what the problem is
• why it is causing you difficulties
• what action you would like them to take

Student answer (Band 5.5)

firstly, i am writing to inform you about my newly neighbours. where i live to the next door recently new neighbours moved in the house. the thing is that playing music in the night is not the good thing because of that someone is disturbing during the night.

In addition to that, the problem is that people are working dawn to dusk and they were tried and they want peace at night. furthermore, talking about the students, they have exams or another things that might have disturbed while studying.

I kindly request you to don't play music at night because of that i am not able to sleep at night and also when i was studied its also distracted. Moreover to that, it will happen again and again i will complain about it. hopefully, you will understand my situation and dont doing this kind of things.

I look forward to your response.

Thanks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all three bullet points of the prompt: identifying the problem, explaining the impact on studies and sleep, and requesting action. However, the development of these points is quite limited. The explanation of why the music is a problem is repetitive and lacks specific detail, and the tone is somewhat aggressive rather than polite, which is expected in a formal letter. While the task requirements are met, the ideas are not fully extended, and the overall tone is not entirely appropriate for the context of a letter to a neighbour.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is divided into paragraphs, which helps with the overall structure. However, the progression of ideas is often disjointed. While some cohesive devices like 'In addition to that' and 'Furthermore' are used, they are sometimes applied mechanically or incorrectly. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'because of that someone is disturbing', which makes it difficult to follow the writer's logic. The flow between sentences is frequently interrupted by grammatical errors, which hinders the overall coherence of the message.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is basic and repetitive. Phrases like 'the good thing' and 'another things' are imprecise and do not demonstrate a sufficient range for this task. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'newly neighbours' instead of 'new neighbours' and 'they were tried' instead of 'they were tired'. The language is generally functional but lacks the variety and precision required for a higher band score. To improve, the student should focus on learning more natural collocations and formal expressions suitable for letter writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede communication. There are consistent issues with verb tenses ('when i was studied'), subject-verb agreement, and sentence structure ('dont doing this kind of things'). The range of structures is limited, relying mostly on simple sentences. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with a lack of proper capitalization throughout the text. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar prevents the response from reaching a higher band.

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

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