Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-12

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 John,

How are you? I hope youre doing fine.

I writting this letter to inform you that i like to organise an alumni event since we had 10 years left in college.I think this is a good idea to meet each other in to have bonding together with our family.

It is good because now we can know hows are life now and i want to see all of you when we left 10 years ago and also our teacher become happy when they saw us.

I think you help me in preparing the table,chair and others need especially food and drinks to all.Also help me to speak on the principal of the school that we want to celebrate alumini in our beloved school.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You cover the three requested points: you propose an alumni event at the college, give reasons such as reconnecting and making teachers happy, and ask John to help with food, drinks, furniture, and contacting the principal. However, the ideas are brief and not fully clear. For example, “we had 10 years left in college” does not clearly express that ten years have passed since graduation, and the reason for including families is not explained. The request for help would also benefit from clearer, more specific details. The response is below the required 150 words, so it has limited space to develop the event plan and explain why this format would work well.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a recognisable sequence: an opening, the proposed celebration and reasons, followed by a request for help. This makes the overall arrangement understandable. You also use basic links such as “because,” “also,” and “especially” to connect points. However, the progression within the paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the sentence about meeting “in to have bonding together with our family” combines ideas without showing how they relate, and the final requests are crowded into one sentence. Use separate sentences or paragraphs for the event plan, its benefits, and John’s tasks. Clearer references—for example, specifying who “all of you” refers to—would also make the connections easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the situation, including “alumni event,” “celebrate,” “principal,” and “food and drinks,” so the reader can identify the main topic and practical arrangements. There is also an attempt to use phrases such as “bonding together” and “beloved school.” However, the range is limited, and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or unclear, including “had 10 years left in college,” “preparing the table, chair,” and “speak on the principal.” Spelling and word-form errors such as “alumini” and “writting” also reduce accuracy. Aim for natural phrases such as “mark our tenth anniversary,” “set up tables and chairs,” and “speak to the principal.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You communicate through mostly simple sentences and make an attempt to join ideas with “because” and “when.” The letter’s basic meaning is generally recoverable, but the range of sentence structures is limited, and errors occur in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction. Examples include “I writting this letter,” “I like to organise,” “how’s are life,” and “our teacher become happy when they saw us.” The sentence beginning “I think this is a good idea” also contains an unclear construction after “meet each other.” Practise accurate present and past forms, and build longer sentences around a clear main clause; check punctuation and capitalisation, including “I.”

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

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