Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-02

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 zeba i was realy happy to hear that you are thinking about a year course in abroad as a part of your university study.I hade similar experince of this course so i would ;ike to tell you a little about it .

last year i studied this course in canda from the university of Alberta .During my study i attended regular classes and i allways took part in all project of my course with local students that gave me chance to learn about local cultural of Alberta .I had getting chance to study with different education system .

During my stay i observed a lot about culture and people of Alberta .I knew that people of canada are very kind ,friendly and with positive atitude .One more thing being independent is most important here .I used to do part time job in nearby restaurant and earn by bread and butter .language is essential in this country so i would sujjest try to learn english from day one that make communication easy .

I would definitely recommand spending a year in abord if you have opportunity .

Best wishes

Zohra

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You successfully cover all parts of the prompt by telling Zeba where you studied, describing what you learned about Canada, and explaining how the year abroad helped your university studies. Your purpose is clear, adopting an informal letter format appropriate for a friend's sister. However, some bullet points are more fully developed than others. For instance, while your description of Canadian culture and people is well explained, the way you explain how the year abroad helped your studies is somewhat brief and could have been extended with more details about your academic progress. To move to a higher level, ensure that all parts of the task receive equal depth of explanation and support.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

Your letter has a coherent overall arrangement, starting with an appropriate greeting and ending with a clear sign-off. You divide your thoughts into relevant paragraphs, such as separating your introduction, your description of the university and studies, and your observations about the culture. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing is not always clear, as seen in the lack of transition words between sentences and occasional run-on sentences like 'language is essential in this country so i would sujjest try to learn english'. To achieve a higher level, you need to use a wider range of cohesive devices more smoothly to guide the reader through your ideas with a clearer logical progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating your personal experiences with everyday terms like 'part time job', 'independent', and 'friendly'. You attempt some less common vocabulary, but there are noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and word form that do not impede communication. For example, you wrote 'realy' instead of really, 'canda' instead of Canada, 'experince' instead of experience, and 'cultural' instead of culture. You also used awkward collocations such as 'earn by bread and butter'. To reach the next level, you need to improve your spelling accuracy and use less common lexical items with better precision and control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms to describe your experience. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, but they rarely impede communication. For example, you have issues with capitalization and missing punctuation, such as starting sentences with lowercase letters and missing full stops. You also made mistakes with verb forms and tenses, such as 'I hade similar experince' and 'I had getting chance to study', as well as article usage like 'in abroad'. To achieve a higher band, you must increase your control over complex sentence structures and reduce the frequency of basic grammatical and punctuation errors.

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

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