Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-09

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Manager,

I am writing this letter to experss my feeling about that decision you had made for leaving the company. I was working with you from last 6 years. i understand that this may be an important decision for your career i feel sad to know that you will no longer be working with us.

i will be sorry to see you go because you have always been a helpful manager i had learnt so many thinks from you. You were my first mentor. i truly appriciate the guidance and support you have give me. Your positive attitude and friendly nature made a better environment for everyone.

i would like to know more about your future plans. Are you planing to join new company or start your own business.

Thank you for everything that you have done for everyone. i wish you all the very best for future.

Yours sincerely

Deepali

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter covers the purpose of the task, which is to express feelings about a manager's departure. You have included personal reflections on your working relationship and inquired about their future plans. However, the tone is somewhat informal for a professional letter to a manager. While you have addressed the main points, the development of ideas is quite basic. To improve, ensure you maintain a consistently professional tone throughout and expand slightly more on the impact of their mentorship to fully meet the requirements of a formal letter.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your message. However, the use of cohesive devices is limited. You rely heavily on simple sentence structures, and there is a lack of linking words or transition phrases to connect your ideas smoothly (e.g., using 'furthermore' or 'consequently'). The progression of ideas is clear, but the flow feels a bit mechanical. Improving the variety of your linking words will help your writing feel more natural and cohesive.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it is quite repetitive and lacks sophistication. There are several spelling errors, such as 'experss' instead of 'express', 'thinks' instead of 'things', and 'appriciate' instead of 'appreciate'. These errors are noticeable but do not prevent the reader from understanding your message. To reach a higher band, you should aim to use a wider range of vocabulary and pay closer attention to spelling and word choice to convey your professional sentiments more effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, particularly with verb tenses and punctuation. For example, 'I was working with you from last 6 years' should be 'I have worked with you for the last 6 years'. You also have issues with capitalization, such as starting sentences with lowercase 'i'. While you attempt some complex ideas, the execution is often faulty. Focusing on basic sentence construction, subject-verb agreement, and consistent capitalization will significantly improve your score in this area.

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

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