Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-14

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 5.0)

Dear Mrs. Diya,

How are you? I hope everything is going well with you.

I am writing to tell you about my recent experiance in abroad studies as i have lived here for since past two years studying and also doing part-time jobs.

First of all, I was living in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada and I was studing masters in business management. I have learned lot of things in abroad that i got phsical studies and in my university there are alot of technology to study and I also have great experiance how to handel the situation and do lot of studies in daytime and at night I went to part-time job to surviey. Althrough, I living a year in abroad I got a lot of confidence in life and meet new people learn about foreign culture. I really enjoyed the experiance and wanted to share it with you.

I would also like to help you regarding any question related to study abroad.

Hope to hear from you soon. Take care!

Best wises,

Aryan Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and mention studying business management, meeting people, and gaining confidence. These details give the reader some relevant information about your experience. However, the task’s three points are not all clearly addressed: what you learnt about Canada is only suggested through a general reference to “foreign culture,” and the explanation of how the year helped your studies is unclear. The reference to living abroad for “the past two years” also conflicts with the task’s one-year experience. The letter therefore responds only partially, with ideas that remain limited and under-developed. To strengthen it, describe a specific aspect of Canadian life or culture and explain directly how studying there improved your academic knowledge or skills.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter has a recognisable structure: an opening, a main section about your experience, an offer of help, and a closing. Phrases such as “First of all” and “I would also like” help signal the sequence of ideas. However, most information is crowded into one long paragraph, and the progression within it is difficult to follow. The sentence beginning “I have learned lot of things” combines technology, study routines, work, confidence, and culture without clear links. Some transitions, including “Although,” do not connect the ideas accurately. Use separate paragraphs for where you studied, what you learnt, and how the experience helped your studies, and connect each point with clear, appropriate transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “part-time jobs,” “business management,” “confidence,” and “foreign culture.” These choices communicate the general subject of your letter. However, the range is limited, and several spelling and word-choice errors make parts difficult to understand, such as “experiance,” “phsical studies,” “handel,” and “surviey.” Some phrases are also unnatural or unclear, including “experiance in abroad studies” and “got physical studies.” Aim for precise expressions that explain your learning and daily life, such as “academic experience,” “practical skills,” or “adapt to a new environment.” Proofreading spelling and choosing natural collocations will make your meaning clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple sentences and longer structures, and the opening and closing are generally easy to follow. However, the longer sentences often contain frequent errors in verb forms, articles, agreement, and sentence construction, which can make the message difficult to interpret. For example, “I am writing to tell you … as i have lived here for since past two years” has an unclear tense and faulty time expression, while “Althrough, I living a year in abroad” lacks a correctly formed verb phrase. Capitalisation is also inconsistent, as in “i” and “canada.” Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea at a time, then add subordinate clauses only when you can control their verb forms and punctuation.

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