Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-22

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 5.0)

Dear Nima,

First of all, congartulation on your new chapter of going abroad for further studies. I am absoutely happy about your this decision. As I also had done a year studying abroad as part of my university course, I would like to share my experiences which will help you in your future.

I was studied at the university of alberta where I could find the course which was related to physiotherapy field. If you have any plan of coming to UOA, please go through their website in which all the details are available.

studying abroad is a wonderful opportunity to learn about our lives. As we are away from home, we start to learn how to manage our life independaently, by taking decision without support of our parents and family. Aso being in abroad, you would be able to explore the beautiful places of that country. Moreover, it gives you a chance to meet the people who are from different cultures and nations.

If you have any doubts, please feel free to contact me. I will always be there for you.

Best regards

Kalani

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You establish the purpose of the letter and give a clear location: you studied at the University of Alberta, with a course related to physiotherapy. However, the task asks what you learnt about the country, and most of this section describes general benefits of living abroad—independence, exploring places and meeting people—rather than specific things you discovered about the country itself. The explanation of how the year helped your studies is also missing: mentioning a related course does not explain what academic knowledge or skills you gained. As a result, the response addresses the task only partially, and its ideas remain limited and under-developed. Add concrete details about the country and explain how the experience supported your university learning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter has a recognisable structure: an opening, paragraphs about your experience, and a polite closing. Ideas within the paragraph about living abroad are linked with phrases such as “Moreover” and “As we are away from home,” so the reader can follow the general message. However, the progression between the required points is not consistently clear. The paragraph beginning “studying abroad is a wonderful opportunity” shifts to broad benefits without clearly connecting them to what you learnt about the country or how your studies improved. The advice about checking the university website also interrupts the account of your experience. Organise the body into focused sections for location, country-related learning, and academic benefits, using clear links between them.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the general topic, including “university course,” “physiotherapy,” “independently,” and “different cultures and nations.” There are also attempts at more descriptive language, such as “a wonderful opportunity” and “beautiful places.” However, the range is limited in places, and several spelling or word-choice errors make the writing less natural, including “congartulation,” “absoutely,” and “Aso.” Some phrases are awkward or imprecise, such as “our lives” when discussing life abroad and “coming to UOA,” which may not be clear to the reader. Build a more precise set of expressions for describing cultural discoveries and academic progress, and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, including a subordinate clause in “As we are away from home, we start to learn…” and a conditional sentence beginning “If you have any plan…”. The main message is generally understandable, but errors occur in verb forms, articles, and sentence construction. For example, “I was studied” should be “I studied,” and “I also had done a year studying abroad” is not a natural tense construction. “I am absolutely happy about your this decision” also has an incorrect word order. These errors do not usually prevent understanding, but they reduce accuracy and control. Practise forming past-tense sentences about your experience and review article use and word order, while continuing to use varied sentence patterns.

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