Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

It is ten years since you left college. You'd like to organise an event to celebrate this anniversary with all your friends and classmates from college.

Write a letter to one of your college friends. In your letter

• say what kind of celebration event you'd like to organise

• explain why you think it would be good to celebrate in this way

• describe what help you need to organise this event

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ....................................,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear friends,

I am really glad that the day has finally came when I am ready to organize an event in the love of concluding ten years of college.

Firstly, I want you to suggest me a few options and also help me to finalize the event I am going to organize. I am thinking of hiking event what do you think?

Hiking will be enjoyed by most of our old college fellows as all of us were used to do it a lot during our college time. Moreover, why I thinking it would be good to celebrate as it will bring back all of our old memories of same places, of same games we played, and the time we all had spent together.

Lastly, I want you to give your opinion on this and then help me in preparing and setting up everything for this upcoming celebration.

Regards,

Anushka

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the main purpose by proposing a hiking event, explaining its connection to shared college memories, and asking your friend to help with planning. The reason—“it will bring back all of our old memories”—is relevant, but the celebration idea and its benefits are only briefly explained. The request for help is also quite general: “help me in preparing and setting up everything” does not specify what tasks your friend could take on. The opening addresses “friends” rather than the particular college friend in the instructions, and the event is presented as a suggestion rather than a clear plan. Develop the proposal with a few practical details and make the requested help more specific.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a recognisable sequence: you introduce the anniversary, suggest an event, give a reason, and ask for help. Paragraphing and signposts such as “Firstly,” “Moreover,” and “Lastly” make the stages easy to identify. However, the progression is sometimes mechanical, and the link between asking your friend to suggest options and presenting hiking as your preferred event could be clearer. The sentence beginning “Moreover, why I thinking…” also interrupts the flow because its structure makes the relationship between the reason and the proposal difficult to follow. Use clearer transitions and organise the explanation and practical request into distinct, connected points. This would make the letter feel more naturally directed to one friend.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “organize an event,” “hiking,” “old memories,” and “upcoming celebration,” so the reader can understand the general message. There are also attempts to express the shared history of the group. However, several phrases are unnatural or imprecise, such as “in the love of concluding ten years,” “suggest me a few options,” and “college fellows.” These choices make parts of the letter less fluent, even though the intended meaning is usually recoverable. Aim for natural collocations and more precise wording when describing the anniversary, your friend’s advice, and the classmates. A few well-chosen expressions would improve clarity more than adding a wider range of vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a reason introduced with “as” and a sentence beginning “Moreover.” The overall message remains understandable, but some errors in verb forms, sentence structure, and punctuation reduce accuracy. For example, “the day has finally came” uses an incorrect verb form, while “why I thinking it would be good” is missing the auxiliary verb and does not form a complete, clear clause. In “all of us were used to do it,” the verb pattern is also incorrect. Review past participles, auxiliary verbs, and the structures that follow “used to.” Breaking up the longer sentence about memories would also help you control punctuation and make your ideas clearer.

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

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