Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-08
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 4.5)
Dear Alex,
Hi Alex, How are you. I hope you are doing fine. I am to happy that you are going to spend your University days outside our country, and I am delighted to share my experience to you.
I spend my 2 years at University of Auckland at New Zealand taking up Early Child Development. I was so trilled and excited to see the world, especially being alone in a place that
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 3.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0
You begin in an appropriate friendly tone and provide one relevant detail: you studied Early Child Development at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. However, the response is incomplete and addresses only the location and course briefly. It does not explain what you learnt about New Zealand or how the year abroad helped your studies, so two key bullet points are missing. The final sentence also stops at “a place that,” leaving the experience unfinished. The response is substantially below the required 150 words, which limits how fully you can develop the requested information. To improve, complete all three points with specific examples and a clear closing.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0
The greeting and opening establish a friendly letter format, and the information begins in a generally understandable order. However, the response ends abruptly after “especially being alone in a place that,” so there is no progression to the other requested topics or a closing. There is also no paragraphing to separate the location, cultural learning, and academic benefits. The repeated greeting—“Dear Alex” followed by “Hi Alex”—is unnecessary, and the transition from the opening to the study details is limited. Organise the letter into short paragraphs, use simple links such as “While I was there” and “This experience helped my studies because,” and finish with an appropriate sign-off.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “University,” “Early Child Development,” “experience,” and “excited,” and the intended friendly tone is clear. However, the range is limited in this short response, and several choices or forms are inaccurate or unnatural: “trilled” appears to be intended as “thrilled,” “share my experience to you” is not the usual collocation, and “spend my 2 years” is awkward for describing a completed period abroad. These errors do not make the main details impossible to understand, but they reduce precision. Build a wider set of expressions for describing cultural discoveries and academic benefits, and check spelling and collocations before finishing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response includes basic sentence forms and attempts to connect ideas, as in “I am delighted to share my experience to you.” However, control is uneven: “How are you” needs a question mark, “I am to happy” has an unnecessary “to,” and “I spend my 2 years” uses the wrong tense for a completed experience. The sentence beginning “I was so trilled and excited…” is left unfinished, which prevents the reader from seeing how the idea would be completed. Most structures are simple, with little evidence of a controlled range of complex sentences. Practise accurate past-tense narration and complete sentences, then use a few clear subordinate clauses to explain what you learnt and how it supported your studies.
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