Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-30

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 Kin

I am writing this letter to inform you about the event that I am going to organize next week with all leftover college student and school classmates.

Well I prefer to arrange full day event in hotel, where all were have been lunch together after that we will organize some activity for all participate where they enjoy accompany each other and know about what they are doing now.

It is greatest thought to memorialize our academy recollection . They converse each other thoughts and experiences. Numerous occupation in high organization and several run their own business and earn reorganization in their fields

Beside this I need your help to collect all contact information from the school and College where we share this reunion gathering information to all of us include hotel address . Even hotel authority will arrange all pick up and drop-off

I was wondering if you would do me a favor

Thank you

Your sincerely

Sonia lamb

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student covers all bullet points required by the task prompt, including the type of event, reasons for celebrating in this way, and the help needed from the friend. The tone is semi-formal/informal as appropriate for a letter to a college friend, starting with 'Dear Kin' and closing with 'Your sincerely Sonia lamb'. However, some ideas are underdeveloped and the phrasing is at times obscure, such as 'leftover college student and school classmates' or 'Numerous occupation in high organization'. Although all parts of the prompt are addressed, the expression of ideas lacks clarity and sufficient extension in places, which aligns the response with a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter uses basic paragraphing to separate different points, such as the event type, the purpose, and the request for help. However, the logical progression is frequently disrupted by awkward transitions and confusing sentence boundaries. For instance, the transition from 'Well I prefer to arrange full day event in hotel' to subsequent clauses lacks smooth cohesive links. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in phrases like 'where all were have been lunch together after that we will organize some activity for all participate where they enjoy accompany each other'. Paragraphing and overall arrangement show coherence, but cohesive devices are faulty and mechanical, placing this performance at Band 5.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student attempts a range of vocabulary relevant to organizing a reunion, such as 'organize', 'anniversary', 'reunion gathering', and 'contact information'. However, there are frequent word-choice, collocation, and word-formation errors that impede smooth reading, such as 'leftover college student', 'greatest thought to memorialize our academy recollection', and 'earn reorganization'. Words are often used in incorrect grammatical forms, for example, 'participate' instead of 'participants' and 'occupation' instead of 'occupations' or 'professionals'. These noticeable lexical errors and limitations in precision restrict the score to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses and modal verbs ('I am writing this letter to inform you', 'I was wondering if you would do me a favor'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout the text, featuring frequent errors in tense, subject-verb agreement, and missing articles. Examples include 'where all were have been lunch together', 'who they are doing now', and 'where we share this reunion gathering information to all of us include hotel address'. These errors cause difficulty for the reader and demonstrate poor control over basic and complex structures alike, supporting a Band 5.0.

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

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