Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-17

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 4.5)

Dear Raman

I hope you are doing well ,i am happy you want to study aborad that is best decsion.i an very exced you stay with me.i know you want to study at same university,that is also good for you because i always guide you ,when you need

As you know i am studied at oxford university .it is the one of best university.i learn lots thing there like how to make perestion,how to make assinment .the studend are very nice and helpful they alway help each there.the university staff is very kind and helpful.

it is good for you i am already suided here . i always guide you for your study and other things.when you need don't be shay , i alway with you, now tell me when you arrive here,i am so happy.

your loveing Harma

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to cover the required points, mentioning that the writer studied at Oxford University and touching upon their experiences and the benefits for studies. However, the letter is addressed to the wrong person (Raman instead of the friend's sister) and confuses the roles, treating Raman as the person staying with the writer rather than addressing the sister as requested. Furthermore, the length requirement has not been met, as the text contains only 139 words, falling short of the 150-word minimum. Due to these content omissions, role confusion, and the under-length penalty, the response achieves a Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter lacks appropriate paragraphing, with most of the text squashed together or awkwardly broken up without clear structural progression. Cohesive devices are minimal and basic, relying heavily on comma splices rather than proper conjunctions or transition words. For example, sentences like 'i hope you are doing well ,i am happy you want to study aborad' demonstrate weak punctuation and poor mechanical cohesion. While the general topic of studying abroad links the sentences, the lack of structured paragraphs and faulty referencing place this criterion at a Band 4.5, rounded to 5.0 based on general flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, with frequent spelling mistakes throughout the text, such as 'aborad' for abroad, 'decsion' for decision, 'exced' for excited, 'assinment' for assignment, 'studend' for students, 'alway' for always, 'suided' for guided, 'shay' for shy, and 'loveing' for loving. There is no successful attempt at less common lexical items, and the frequent spelling errors cause some distraction for the reader. This performance aligns with the Band 4.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting almost entirely of simple sentences joined incorrectly by commas rather than full stops or conjunctions. There are severe punctuation errors throughout, such as missing capital letters at the beginning of sentences and missing spaces after commas (e.g., 'well ,i am happy'). Subject-verb agreement and tense usage are also problematic, as seen in 'i am studied at oxford university' and 'i learn lots thing'. Due to the constant mechanical and grammatical errors, this meets the criteria for Band 4.0.

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

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