Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-15
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 Ria,
I hope you are having great time in your holidays. I recieved your message yesterday as you are planning to study in foreign country.
It was really great time for me when I studied in abroad in Nasit uni.of singapore.I had such a memorable nostalgia when I've read your message.Nasit campus is one of the well-known university for their studies and academic performance along with that affordable prices for different courses.
The singapore city itself is the magnifient town to live as it is well facilitated and pollution free area. I can promise you are going to absouletly love it,the city can be beyond your imagination.It is multicultural place where you can learn various things with great examples.Moreover,I also observed their people living style is so formal and they greet us with love and respect.Therefore, not only university is glorify but also the whole city,
Furthermore, I would say planned to study in abroad was best decision ever as the studies was super helpful for me, professors were so co-operative and smart enough to tell you about each concept of your subject.Resultantly,I got job in field as a logistics coordinator.
Thus, for you the planning to go to the abroad will be best decision for you .
lovingly,
Aya
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response successfully covers all parts of the prompt in an informal, friendly tone appropriate for a letter to a friend's sister. You clearly stated where you studied by mentioning "Nasit uni.of singapore", described what you learned about the country by highlighting that it is a "multicultural place" with people who have a formal lifestyle and greet others with "love and respect," and explained why the year was helpful for your studies by noting the cooperative professors and how it ultimately helped you secure a job "as a logistics coordinator." The ideas are fully relevant and directly address the bullet points. Therefore, this performance meets the criteria for Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The letter exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a recognizable beginning, middle, and end, starting with the mandated greeting "Dear Ria," and ending with a sign-off. Paragraphing is attempted to separate distinct ideas, such as location, cultural observations, and academic benefits. However, paragraphing and logical progression are occasionally hindered by mechanical transitions and abrupt shifts, as seen in phrases like "Moreover,I also observed" and "Thus, for you the planning..." Referencing is also somewhat unclear in places, such as "not only university is glorify but also the whole city." Consequently, the organization fits the Band 6 descriptor well.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as "multicultural," "co-operative," and "coordinating." However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors that occur throughout the text, including "recieved" instead of received, "magnifient" instead of magnificent, "absouletly" instead of absolutely, and "glorify" instead of glorified. Phrases like "people living style" and "planned to study in abroad" also show lexical inaccuracies. Although these errors do not impede overall communication, they prevent the lexical score from rising higher, placing the response firmly at Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some attempt at variety with relative clauses and conditional structures ("where you can learn various things"). However, there are frequent grammatical errors in tense usage, articles, and prepositions throughout the letter. Examples include "I hope you are having great time," "studied in abroad," "university is glorify," and "the planning to go to the abroad." Punctuation and spacing errors, such as missing spaces after commas, are also noticeable. While the meaning remains mostly clear to the reader, the density of grammatical mistakes keeps the score at Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.