Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-23

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)

dear sarah

i hope you are in good health. i welcome you to be a part of this beautiful neighbourhood. hope we enjoyed a good time here.

sara the reason of writting this letter is very genuine and i hope you understand it. i am a student of masters and my exams are ahead. i am studying day and night to get best scores. but i could not sleep peacefully at night beacuse of loud mudic you comimg from your house at night.

i would really appreciate if you stop playing music so loud. this will help me to get a peacefull sleep to study at day time annd to get good marks in exams.

i hope to get a postitive response from your side.

regards

aiman

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the central problem—loud music at night—and explain that it disrupts your sleep while you prepare for upcoming examinations. You also make a clear request for the neighbours to stop playing music so loudly, so the purpose of the letter is understandable. However, the task is only partly developed: the explanation of how the noise affects your studying is brief, and the requested action could be more specific, such as asking them to lower the volume after a particular time. The response also contains 127 words, below the required 150, which limits how fully you can address the points. Add relevant detail and a polite closing request to develop the letter.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter follows a generally understandable order: you greet Sarah, introduce the reason for writing, describe the noise and its effects, and make a request before signing off. This gives the reader a coherent overall arrangement. Some links between ideas are less clear, however. For example, “hope we enjoyed a good time here” does not connect naturally to the complaint, and “this will help me to get a peaceful sleep to study at day time” combines several ideas without a clear relationship. Use separate paragraphs for the welcome, problem and request, and connect the effects more explicitly—for example, explain that the noise prevents sleep and therefore makes daytime study harder. Clearer referencing and transitions would improve the flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough relevant vocabulary to communicate the main issue, including “examinations,” “loud music,” “sleep peacefully” and “good marks.” The tone is generally polite, and phrases such as “I would really appreciate” suit a neighbourly letter. However, the range is limited and several spelling or word-choice errors make the writing less clear, including “writting,” “mudic,” “beacuse” and “comimg.” Some expressions are also unnatural, such as “the reason of writing this letter is very genuine” and “a peaceful sleep.” Choose more natural collocations and check spelling carefully. More precise language for the requested change, such as “keep the volume down late at night,” would make the message clearer and more effective.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response mainly uses simple sentence patterns, with a few attempts to join ideas using “but” and “so.” The basic message is usually understandable, but frequent errors in sentence formation and verb forms sometimes make the reader work to interpret it. For example, “hope we enjoyed a good time here” has an unclear subject and verb, while “the reason of writting this letter is” does not form the intended grammatical pattern. The sentence beginning “but i could not sleep” also needs a clearer connection to the previous sentence. Practise complete sentences, consistent tense, and accurate subject–verb patterns. Capitalise “I” and use punctuation to separate the greeting, body and closing.

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

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