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 Reena,

I am writing this leeter to inform you regqrding my higher education. LAst year, I went to Melbourne, Australia for studying MBA program which was for 1 year duration. After my graduation, I decided to take this further studies in Australia becuase the course which i was intereted in was rated in top 5 among the other countries.

Also, one of my cousins is also staying in Melbourne so that was a relaxation not only for me but also for my parents. Australia country has more or less similar weather like what we have in India. The only worry is about winter as they have little hard winter as compared to our country. People in Australia are very supportive and that helped me in many ways right from selection of rented home until I left the country.

Immediately, after coming back to India, I ahve applied for the jobs and believe me I got a call from almost all the companies where I have applied which means there is a watage of studying in Australia>

Finally, I would like to conclude that my experience in Australia was one of the best and I have no regrets of taking this decision to sudy there.

Thank you.

Best regards,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, as you successfully mention studying an MBA in Melbourne for one year, describe aspects of the country such as the supportive people and the weather, and explain how the experience helped your studies and subsequent job applications. However, certain ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed, placing the response at this level. For instance, the description of what you learnt about the country is brief and touches only on general weather comparisons and helpful locals rather than deeper cultural or academic insights. To reach a higher standard, you would need to extend your explanations with more specific examples and elaborate further on how the academic environment directly benefited your professional preparation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a recognizable letter structure, starting with an appropriate salutation and closing with standard sign-offs. Paragraphs are used to separate different themes, such as your course details in the first paragraph, living conditions in the second, and career outcomes in the third. Nevertheless, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty, as seen in the slightly repetitive transitional phrases like 'Also' and 'Finally', and occasional referencing issues that make the flow less seamless. To progress, you should aim to connect your ideas more fluidly using a wider and more natural variety of cohesive devices, ensuring that transitions between sentences and paragraphs feel entirely smooth and purposeful throughout the entire response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is minimally adequate for the task, successfully communicating your basic message, but it shows significant limitations and inaccuracies. There are several spelling mistakes, such as 'leeter' for letter, 'regqrding' for regarding, 'LAst' for last, 'becuase' for because, 'intereted' for interested, 'ahve' for have, 'watage' instead of what seems to be 'advantage', and 'sudy' for study. Furthermore, word choices and collocations are sometimes awkward or unnatural, such as 'take this further studies' or 'little hard winter'. To achieve a higher band, you need to broaden your lexical range, eliminate frequent spelling slips, and use less common vocabulary and precise collocations with greater accuracy and stylistic awareness.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as when you use relative clauses ('which was for 1 year duration' and 'where I have applied'). However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that occur throughout the text, including article omissions and misuse like 'for studying MBA program', preposition issues such as 'in Australia' versus 'for your studies', and tense or agreement slips. While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to cause some difficulty for the reader. To improve, you should focus on sharpening your control over grammatical structures, ensuring correct article usage, accurate prepositions, and reliable subject-verb agreement across both simple and complex sentences.

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