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 Sara,

Hope this letter finds you well. It has been ten years since we met. I still remember our friends group in the college, our group studies and our visits to explore the city. I am reaching out to eagerly invite you and other friends to the special event of celebrating this party.

I have invited all of the college friends and they are very enthusiastic to meetup. Although, everyone is busy in their practical life but they all have promised promptly to join the get-together.

I am going to organize the event at my home, on the upcoming holidays, so that there would be enough time to celebrate this anniversary. We will recall our memorable activities and our fantastic memories.

I have made all the necessary arrangements and I'd send you the list of activities, please add up something, that is necessary.

Hope you would accept my invitation.

Yours sincerely,

Sobia.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student successfully covers all bullet points of the prompt. First, the type of celebration event is clearly stated ('organize the event at my home'). Second, the reason for celebrating in this way is explained ('so that there would be enough time to celebrate this anniversary' and to 'recall our memorable activities'). Third, help is requested regarding organizing the event ('please add up something, that is necessary'). The tone is appropriately friendly and personal for a General Training letter to a college friend. All parts of the task are adequately addressed, earning a solid Band 6.5 to 7.0 representation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression from greeting to inviting, explaining, requesting help, and closing. Paragraphing is used to separate distinct ideas, though some paragraphs are quite short. Cohesive devices are functional, such as 'Although' and 'so that', though referencing is occasionally a bit mechanical ('I have invited all of the college friends and they...'). Overall, the logical flow is clear and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using terms like 'enthusiastic', 'anniversary', and 'arrangements'. However, there are some awkward lexical choices and collocation errors, such as 'friends group in the college' (instead of 'college friend group') and 'busy in their practical life' (instead of 'busy with their daily lives'). Spelling and word choices do not impede communication, placing the writing comfortably at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses with 'although' and 'so that'. There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'ten years since we met' (missing 'it has been'), 'friends group', and 'I'd send you the list of activities, please add up something'. Punctuation is generally fine, but some sentences feel slightly unnatural. These errors do not impede overall communication.

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

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