Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-19

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......,

I hope you are doing well. I was informed by my sister that you are very good in studies, infact your GPA in your last semester was 3.79, and it is amazing to hear that. She also told me that you got a scholarship at your university, and you are also planning to study abroad. First of all, I want to congratulate you on your brilliant success. Last year, I got a scholarship email from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) for an MS program in Engineering, and I was very excited about my journey. Scotland is almost 4-5 hours away from our country. Honestly, it is a very beautiful country. In Scotland, I have learned many new things in my field, like how to operate modern CNC machines, lathe machines, milling machines, and many more things. Furthermore, my experience there was brilliant and after completing my degree, the biggest vehicle company hired me as a manager. I wish you the best as well.

X.Y.X

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all the bullet points outlined in the prompt. You mentioned where you studied by writing 'the University of Edinburgh (Scotland)', described what you learned about the country by stating 'it is a very beautiful country' and learning about 'modern CNC machines, lathe machines, milling machines', and explained how it was helpful by noting that 'the biggest vehicle company hired me as a manager'. However, the tone and content drift slightly into excessive praise of the recipient's academic achievements at the beginning, which detracts somewhat from the primary purpose of the letter. Overall, the requirements of the task are met clearly, leading to a solid band score for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter maintains a generally coherent overall arrangement and flows adequately from your opening pleasantries into your personal experiences abroad. However, paragraphing is not utilised effectively; the entire body of the letter is compressed into a single, bulky paragraph rather than being broken down into logical sections such as introduction, experiences, benefits, and sign-off. Cohesive devices are somewhat basic, relying heavily on simple connectors like 'and' and 'Furthermore'. To achieve a higher band score, you should divide your ideas into clear paragraphs and incorporate a wider variety of cohesive markers to guide the reader more smoothly through the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully incorporating subject-specific terms such as 'scholarship', 'MS program', 'CNC machines', and 'milling machines'. There are, however, some awkward word choices and spelling issues, such as writing 'infact' instead of 'in fact' and 'vehicle company' instead of the more natural 'automotive company' or 'manufacturing firm'. While these lexical inaccuracies do not impede communication, they prevent the vocabulary from reaching a higher band level. Incorporating more sophisticated collocations and precise terminology would enhance this score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'I was informed by my sister that you are very good in studies...' and 'Last year, I got a scholarship email... and I was very excited...'. There are some grammatical errors and prepositional inaccuracies, such as saying 'good in studies' instead of 'good at studying' or 'doing very well academically'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, though comma splices occur, such as in the opening sentence regarding your GPA mention. The majority of simple sentences are accurate, allowing the reader to understand the meaning easily, but frequent minor errors hold the score at the present level.

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

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