Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-27

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

Begin your letter as follows:
Dear........,

Student answer (Band 5.0)

Dear sister, I am writing a letter to give feedback abuout academic experince. I obtianed degree from Oxford University. I really admired their teacher because, it was hardworking and also use friendly behivaoure. To begin with, during the abroad I was studing in the Oxford University. However, I choiced that Uiversity because their role was amazing and also their evironment majistic. Besides, their teacher tought practical skills and acedemic, In addtion after the clases, their teacher took extra clases for praparing exem. Secondly, I leraned alot of thing from the England, but most I leraned two and three thing very well, it is communication skills and computer course. However, I learned their cultures and langauge. From my perpective studing abored was beneficial for me, because their modern techonogy and profisional teacher, which was cruical for my future career. In addtion, their University fess inexpensive, and also I eraned money with tutions. I am convinced that the Oxford institution is very useful for you, as their evironment is captivating and the support student financially. Yours Sincerely.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource4.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.5
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response successfully covers all the bullet points outlined in the prompt. You mentioned where you studied by stating 'I obtianed degree from Oxford University' and reiterated studying 'in the Oxford University'. You described what you learned by mentioning 'communication skills and computer course' as well as local culture and language. Furthermore, you explained why it was helpful by discussing career benefits, modern technology, and inexpensive university fees. However, some ideas are slightly repetitive or underdeveloped, such as the mention of earning money with tuitions. Your tone is generally appropriate for a letter to a friend's sister, though addressing her as 'Dear sister' is unusual since she is your friend's sister, not your own. Overall, the task has been adequately addressed, placing the response at a Band 5.5 level for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The letter is organised into distinct paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the overall structure. You use standard transitional markers such as 'To begin with', 'Secondly', and 'In addtion' to signal movement between points. However, the logical progression is sometimes hindered by abrupt shifts in topic and repetitive phrasing. For instance, the transition between discussing the university environment and moving on to what you learned in England lacks smoothness. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun 'their' being used repeatedly to refer to different subjects. Paragraphing is attempted, but sentences within paragraphs can feel disjointed due to frequent mechanical cohesive errors. This places your coherence and cohesion at a solid Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

Your vocabulary range is limited and frequently impacts readability. You attempt some less common items such as 'majistic' (majestic), 'captivating', and 'profisional' (professional), but these are undermined by spelling errors and incorrect word forms. There are also noticeable issues with word choice and collocation, such as writing 'give feedback abuout academic experince' instead of 'academic experience', and 'eraned money with tutions' instead of 'earned money through private tutoring'. Basic words like 'thing', 'teacher', and 'evironment' are repeated frequently throughout the letter. Because these lexical errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a limited vocabulary range, this criterion is awarded a Band 4.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The writing displays a mix of simple and attempted complex sentence forms, such as 'I am convinced that the Oxford institution is very useful for you, as their evironment is captivating and the support student financially.' However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout the text, featuring frequent errors in verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. Examples include 'I choiced that Uiversity' instead of 'I chose that university', 'their teacher tought' instead of 'the teachers taught', and 'studing abored was beneficial'. Punctuation is also problematic, with incorrect comma splices and missing articles. Because errors are frequent and occasionally obscure meaning, your grammatical range and accuracy score is Band 4.5.

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