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 Misbah,

Hope you are doing well.

I am writing this letter to my dearest sister regarding you study abroad question which you had asked during my parting journey to abroad for studying.

I started studying at Toronto's University in Canada. I choose this university because my I got scholarship and my credentials matched the course which I had dream off. I got admission in Design Engineering in September intake of 2025. This course will help me grow my career and better job placements.

During my stay in Canada, I have learnt about this country. How the people manage their work life balance. By this I mean the citizens are physically active in hiking, biking and such other activities to stay healthy.

Studying abroad gives me the courage to stay far from parents and learn how to survive in this evil world. How to make financially stable and making each penny to save for myself to become a better person.

I hope this helps your question and clear the doubt to make decision for study abroad.

Yours Faithfully,

Oman.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all three bullet points required in the prompt. You successfully mention where you studied ('Toronto's University in Canada'), describe what you learned about the country ('How the people manage their work life balance'), and explain why the year abroad was helpful for your studies ('This course will help me grow my career and better job placements'). However, some ideas are slightly confused in terms of role relationship, as you address Misbah as your friend's sister, but then write 'regarding you study abroad question' and 'stay far from parents' in a way that sometimes blurs the intended perspective. Despite these minor narrative slips, all parts of the task are addressed with relevant ideas, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter follows a clear overall arrangement with a standard opening and closing, and paragraphs are used to separate different points. However, logical progression is occasionally hindered by awkward transitions and confusing referencing, such as 'regarding you study abroad question which you had asked during my parting journey to abroad for studying.' Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or lacking in natural flow. For example, sentences like 'During my stay in Canada, I have learnt about this country. How the people manage their work life balance.' break standard grammatical boundaries for dependent clauses, affecting smooth cohesion. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion needs tighter control, supporting a Band 6 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing you to convey basic points about studying abroad, courses, and lifestyle. You make several attempts at less common vocabulary such as 'credentials', 'work life balance', and 'financially stable'. However, there are noticeable word choice errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'parting journey to abroad', 'Toronto's University' instead of 'the University of Toronto', and 'making each penny to save for myself'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but lexical inaccuracies restrict the score to Band 5.5, as vocabulary limitations occasionally cause slight strain for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses ('which you had asked') and infinitives of purpose. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward structures, such as sentence fragments ('How the people manage their work life balance.') and errors with prepositions and pronouns ('regarding you study abroad question', 'my I got scholarship', 'dream off'). Punctuation and verb tense shifts also introduce errors that require the reader to occasionally re-read parts of the letter. Because errors are frequent in complex attempts and simple structures dominate, this meets the criteria for Band 5.0.

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

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