Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-05

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 Ayesha

I hope you are doing good. I just came to know from your brother that you are planning to study abroad and i think that is very good idea.I can share my recent experience of study.

I just done my MBA from London School of Economic England. It was great experience of my life. While studing in UK, I learn about the British culture and their traditional historical values. I also notice how friendly and welcoming people they are which make me very comfortable.

For acdemics point of view it eas very helpful for my career goal. They more focus on practical then theortical which enhances my confidence and polished my problem sloving skills which have helped me alot when i return to home country.

I will suggest you that you should consider it as it will help you to face the challanges of the life. If you need any help in appling feel free to ask.

Regards

Amir Qasim

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You successfully addressed all parts of the letter prompt by mentioning where you studied, describing what you learned about the country, and explaining the benefits to your studies. For example, you clearly stated that you studied at the London School of Economics in England and mentioned gaining insight into British culture and traditional values. However, some ideas remain under-developed or somewhat generalized, such as the brief mention of your academic benefits where you noted a focus on practical rather than theoretical learning. To achieve a higher band, you would need to extend and support your ideas more fully, providing richer details about your everyday experiences abroad and giving concrete examples of how your studies were directly enhanced.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your letter shows a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure, moving logically from an opening greeting and purpose to your study location, cultural insights, academic benefits, and a friendly closing. Each paragraph focuses on a distinct topic, which helps guide the reader through your response. Nevertheless, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. For instance, the transition between sentences could be smoother, and referencing is occasionally unclear. To move up, you should employ a wider range of cohesive devices more flexibly and ensure that relationships between ideas are signaled more naturally without relying on repetitive connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You used an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'traditional historical values' and 'problem solving skills'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors in word choice, spelling, and word form throughout your response. Examples include spelling 'studing' instead of 'studying', 'acdemics' instead of 'academic', 'theortical' instead of 'theoretical', and 'appling' instead of 'applying'. Additionally, phrases like 'doing good' and 'came to know' are slightly informal or imprecise for an effective IELTS response. To reach a higher level, you need to minimize spelling mistakes and demonstrate greater precision and naturalness in your lexical choices.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Your writing displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures. You managed to convey your message clearly despite several grammatical errors. However, there are frequent errors in verb forms, articles, and prepositions, such as 'I just done my MBA' instead of 'I have just completed my MBA', 'is very good idea' missing the article 'a', and 'practical then theortical' instead of 'practical rather than theoretical'. Furthermore, punctuation is occasionally neglected, particularly around commas and capitalization. To improve this criterion, you must increase your accuracy in verb tenses and complex sentence patterns so that errors occur less frequently and do not distract the reader.

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

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