Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-01

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 Awan,

It's been long time since we left the college and not able to meet you in person. I am planning to organize an anniversary event as we have already completed a decade ago. This event I am planning in my current city which is very lively in terms of parting. I would also invite few others college close friends so that we remember our college days.

If we celebrate the college anniversary in such a way, I am sure we will create a lot of memories. Now we have families so everyone will come along with their family. Will have dinner based on theme in one of the best dine-in my city. In addition, there would a dance floor with a DJ so that individuals should enjoy. By meeting in such a way we go through old photos, laugh about hostel days and reconnect deeply.

I would be need your help to finalize the menu as there would be few vegans along with non-vegetarian. Furthermore, you also need to call some friends as I lost there contacts. You also need to invite and guide them so that everyone should come and create some good memories.

I am looking forward to hearing from you and I am sure will be a little more excited about this event.

Best Regards

Yasir

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You successfully addressed all parts of the letter prompt, covering the kind of event, the reason for choosing it, and the specific help required. For instance, you explained that you want to organize a lively anniversary event in your city with a themed dinner and a DJ to reconnect and share memories. However, some aspects of your response are under-developed. While you mentioned needing help to finalize the menu and contact lost friends, the explanation of why you chose this specific type of event and how you want them to guide the invitees could have been extended further to fully develop the ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your letter has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear beginning and ending, and the purpose of the letter is clear from the start. You used paragraphing to separate your main points, such as the event details in the second paragraph and the requests for help in the third. Nevertheless, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For example, the transition between sentences in the second paragraph feels abrupt, and referencing is not always completely clear, such as when you refer to 'such a way' and 'meeting in such a way' repeatedly without varied cohesive devices.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrated an adequate range of vocabulary to complete the task successfully. You attempted some less common vocabulary items, such as 'anniversary event', 'lively', and 'reconnect deeply'. However, there are some word-choice and collocation errors and awkward phrasing that indicate limitations in your lexical control. For instance, writing 'parting' instead of 'parties', 'few others college close friends' instead of 'a few other close college friends', and 'dine-in' instead of 'dining spot' or 'restaurant'. Additionally, phrases like 'lost there contacts' contain minor errors, though these do not seriously impede communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You used a mix of simple and complex sentence forms in your letter, such as 'If we celebrate the college anniversary in such a way, I am sure we will create a lot of memories.' There are several errors in grammar and sentence structure throughout the text, including tense issues like 'It's been long time' and 'not able to meet', awkward prepositional patterns such as 'I would be need your help', and missing articles or pluralization errors like 'dance floor with a DJ so that individuals should enjoy'. Although these errors are noticeable and occur frequently enough to place the response at this level, they rarely impede the overall meaning for the reader.

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

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