Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-22

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 Seema,

hope you are doing well, i am writing a letter to you regarding my personal experience in study aborad.

I received a call from your elder brother last week about your course and he discuss me about your study course. althogh i did same study course in london university last year. He request me to asist you about my experience in london.

So this information might be help you lot. as you aware i studied in london oxford university. moreover my subject and course was similer with which you choose recently. It is good choice by choosing a bussiness management course in same university.

I almost spend one and half year in london and it was very good experience for me to study in that countery. i explore this country in my free time. the people of here are very helpful and the society is very nice. the culture in this country is very prominent. I did part time job also and its helps me lot in my study , how to manage the bussiness and runs the operations as well as i manage my expenses through this job.

I wish my advice is helpful to you.

With regards

Jatin sharma

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all bullet points of the task instructions. You greeted the recipient, told her where you studied ("london oxford university"), described what you learned about the country ("the people of here are very helpful and the society is very nice"), and explained why the year abroad was helpful for your studies ("how to manage the bussiness and runs the operations as well as i manage my expenses"). The tone is generally appropriate for a letter to a friend's sister, although some phrasing is overly formal or repetitive. All parts of the prompt are addressed, giving a clear picture of your experience. Ideas are relevant and supported by personal details about your part-time job and coursework. Therefore, this performance fits well within the Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement, and the sequence of ideas is generally logical. You use basic cohesive devices to connect your thoughts, such as 'moreover', 'so', and 'also'. However, paragraphing is somewhat inconsistent and breaks flow in places, with several very short paragraphs that could be better grouped. Furthermore, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as when pronouns like 'it' or 'he' are used without immediate unambiguous antecedents. While the letter is easy to follow overall, the cohesive devices feel somewhat mechanical, leading to a Band 6 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing you to communicate your experiences effectively. You attempt some less common vocabulary related to business and studying, such as 'prominent', 'operations', and 'bussiness management'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors ('aborad', 'althogh', 'asist', 'similer', 'bussiness', 'countery') and awkward word choices ('discuss me' instead of 'talked to me', 'help you lot'). These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5, as the control over less common lexical items is inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as the use of subordinate clauses with 'as' and 'when'. However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, including lowercase starting letters after periods, comma splices ('hope you are doing well, i am writing'), and tense or agreement issues ('its helps me lot', 'i wish my advice is helpful'). Although these errors rarely impede overall communication, they occur with sufficient frequency to place this response firmly in the Band 5 category, as the control over complex structures remains inconsistent.

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

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