Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-30

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 Riya,

I hope you are doing well.

I heard that you are planning to study abroad. That is a good decision. I already completed my studies from abroad. I got many experience while I was studing in abroad.

My college name was Centennial college, which was located in the Scarbrough town. College have many buiding in the campus. This college having many equipments for different purpose of studies. For instance, For mechanical students they have CNC machines, milling, and lathe machines. For computer students they have wide variety of computer.

I had learned many things during that days. Firstly, I started cooking by myself. That was a big attempt in my life. Because, I do not have any experience in the field of cooking. I strugged at the begining. Secondly, I learned to manage both studeis and part time job together.

Why I am suggesting to study abroad is that, you will get job right after your studies. This college will conduct many job fair at the end of the semester. This will help you to get good company with high salary at the beginning of your job.

I wish all the very best for your higher studies in abroad. Please contact me if you need any help from my side.

Thanks,

Sebin

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You use an appropriate friendly letter format and address Riya directly. The response gives a location—Centennial College in Scarborough—and includes personal learning, such as cooking independently and balancing study with part-time work. However, the task asks what you learnt about the country, while most of this section describes personal skills and college facilities; add observations about the country’s culture, people, or daily life. The explanation of how the year helped your studies is also limited: job fairs and future employment are useful benefits, but you do not clearly explain how the experience supported your university learning or course. These gaps leave parts of the task only partially addressed, and some ideas need clearer development.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter has a recognisable structure, with separate paragraphs for the college, personal learning, and advice, and the sequence is generally easy to follow. Signposting such as “Firstly” and “Secondly” helps organise the learning points. However, the progression between ideas is sometimes abrupt: the paragraph about college equipment does not clearly connect to what you learnt about the country, and the move from personal learning to recommending study abroad could be smoother. Some linking is mechanical, particularly the repeated use of “This” to refer to benefits without specifying the connection. Use clearer transitions and make each paragraph focus directly on one requested point, with references that show how each idea relates to your experience.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main experience, including “campus,” “CNC machines,” “part time job,” and “job fair.” These details make parts of the letter specific. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems make the writing less natural, such as “studies from abroad,” “many experience,” and “good company with high salary.” There are also repeated general words such as “many,” “good,” and “things,” where more precise language would help. Aim to learn common phrases for studying overseas and employment, and check spelling carefully. More accurate, varied vocabulary would make your descriptions clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You communicate mainly through simple sentences and make some attempts to combine ideas, for example, “I strugged at the begining” followed by an explanation of the difficulty. However, the range of sentence structures is limited, and errors occur frequently in verb forms, agreement, articles, and prepositions. Examples include “I already completed my studies from abroad,” “College have many buiding,” and “This college having many equipments.” The sentence beginning “Because, I do not have any experience” is also an incomplete sentence in this context. These patterns sometimes make the reader pause to interpret your meaning. Practise accurate past-tense descriptions and complete sentences, then add a few controlled complex structures using “because,” “which,” or “while.”

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