Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-08

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The younger sister of one of your friends is thinking about spending a year studying abroad as part of her university course. You did this recently, and she has asked you about your experience.

Write a letter to your friend's sister. In your letter

• tell her where you studied during your year abroad

• describe what you learnt about the country you studied in

• explain why your year abroad was helpful for your studies

Begin your letter as follows:
Dear........,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Riya,

How are you? I hope that you are doing well in your academics. I'm writing to let you know regarding abroad education system as well as my genuine experience.

I got a letter from Ajay, who is a my childhoold freind. He's asking about abroad education system and my own journey. I recently have completed post-graduation bussiness management course from Cape Breton University. It was two years programm.

Aslo, I heard that your a founf of abroad education and abroad lifestyle. I have learned distinct skils as I am residing in Canada from couple of years. I became self-dependent after leaving my comfort zone. Apart from that, I have a good hand on time management and finance management after handing my expenditure and revenue by my own.

Futhermore, in order to gain practical knowledge of the particular filed, I can say that Canada is the best place to embark tertiary course journey. It provides us to obtain pratical experience via internship in the last semester of the course.

I hope that you'll get all required information by this letter. If you need more detials about this, please let me know. I'll be delighted to assist you. I'll wait for your response.

Best Regards,

Vishakha.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You make a clear attempt to respond to the letter and give relevant information about studying in Canada, including the practical experience available through internships. However, the task asks where you studied during a year abroad, and your account instead describes a two-year postgraduate course at Cape Breton University, so the central experience does not clearly match the situation. You also describe general lessons such as becoming self-dependent and managing money, but say little about what you learned about Canada itself. The explanation of how the experience helped your studies is present but brief. Address each prompt directly: identify the study-abroad location, share specific observations about the country, and explain how these affected your academic learning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The letter has a recognisable opening, several body paragraphs and a polite closing, and the ideas are grouped broadly by topic. However, the progression is not consistently clear: the paragraph about Ajay and your postgraduate course interrupts the direct account to Riya, while the next paragraph shifts between her supposed interests and your personal skills. Connect each paragraph to one of the requested points and remove information that does not help answer them. Linking phrases such as “Apart from that” and “Furthermore” provide some structure, but their use feels mechanical and does not always clarify the relationship between ideas. Clearer references and a more direct sequence would make the letter easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “self-dependent,” “time management,” “finance management” and “practical experience,” which helps communicate your experience. There are also attempts at less common or formal expressions, such as “embark tertiary course journey,” but this phrasing is unnatural and reduces precision. Several spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “childhoold,” “bussiness,” “distinct skils” and “a founf,” and phrases such as “good hand on” and “handling my expenditure and revenue” are not idiomatic in this context. Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully; for example, “manage my expenses” is clearer than “handling my expenditure and revenue.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both short sentences and some attempts at more complex structures, such as “after leaving my comfort zone” and “in order to gain practical knowledge.” Meaning is generally recoverable, but errors in sentence construction and grammatical forms occur across the letter. For example, “who is a my childhood friend” has an incorrect article and possessive, and “I recently have completed” uses an awkward tense form; “I recently completed” would be more natural. In “I have learned distinct skills as I am residing in Canada from couple of years,” the tense and time expression are not well controlled. Practise choosing consistent past or present-perfect forms and checking articles, verb patterns and sentence boundaries.

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

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