Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-28
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 Sam,
Hey, How are you my friend? I hope you are doing well. Its been so long we met. However, Guess what? I am going to get engaged with Rose, On 28th october. I hope you remember her, she is one of our class mate in collage. She loves beaches alot and thats why we are planning to celebrate our engagement ceremony at Goa's pink sand beach.
I would like to mention that the dress code is light pink for the day and black for evening so don't forget to bring clothes according to the theme. Our college group first get in touch on a beach party that why i think this is the best way to connect again after so long.
Furthermore, Romy is helping me to organise this celebration on beach because now a days he is doing outstanding work as a event organiser. I am very excited for the reunion of our group and i am inviting you and your whole to come and be a valuable part of this celebration.
I hope you will not disappoint me and will be with me on my special day. Hoping to meet you soon.
Yours lovingly,
Ahana Shinde
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The student has misunderstood the specific prompt regarding the ten-year college anniversary reunion, transforming it instead into an engagement announcement with Rose at Goa's pink sand beach. While the letter covers the required bullet points of stating what kind of event is organised, explaining why, and describing the help needed, the core premise of celebrating a ten-year college anniversary is entirely replaced by an engagement party. Consequently, the response does not fully satisfy the specific task requirements as outlined in the prompt, leading to a penalty under Task Achievement. Despite the clear and friendly tone, the deviation from the central theme prevents a higher score.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The letter is organised into clear paragraphs, each serving a distinct purpose in the overall structure. The student uses basic cohesive devices and referencing appropriately, such as 'Furthermore' and 'that's why'. However, the logical progression is occasionally hindered by abrupt shifts between topics, such as jumping from the engagement announcement straight to the dress code and then back to the reunion aspect. Paragraphing is used, but the overall flow feels a bit disjointed due to the confused narrative. Nevertheless, the layout and basic paragraph structure meet the standards of a standard informal letter.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for an informal letter, using phrases like 'engagement ceremony', 'dress code', and 'outstanding work'. However, there are numerous lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'collage' instead of 'college', 'alot' instead of 'a lot', and 'class mate'. Furthermore, collocations like 'doing outstanding work as a event organiser' (an event organiser) show noticeable flaws. The range is sufficient for the task and communication is not severely impeded, but the vocabulary remains basic with frequent slips.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and relative clauses ('she loves beaches alot and thats why we are planning...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation mistakes, including missing capitalization ('october', 'goa'), run-on structures, and incorrect verb tenses ('Its been so long we met' instead of 'It has been so long since we met'). Article errors also occur, such as 'on a beach party'. While the meaning is generally clear, the density of grammatical inaccuracies places this firmly in the band 5 range.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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