Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-31
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 Sarah,
I hope you are doing good, I'm writing this letter to share my recent experiences while pursuing Master in Computer Science at Unversity of Toronto in Canada.
Canada is a diverse country with people from different ethnicities.During my studies in Canada, I met people from mixed races, and can speak multiple languages.So please be advised to have a language transalator handy while communicating with non-english speakers.
I have learnt lot about the cultures and food habits of individuals from different backgrounds. I get to see different persepective of human nature while
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 3.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0
The letter begins appropriately and identifies the place of study: the University of Toronto in Canada. It also starts to describe Canada as diverse and mentions learning about cultures and food habits. However, the response does not explain how the year abroad helped your studies, and the description of what you learnt remains very general. The final sentence is unfinished, so the reader does not receive a complete account of your experience or advice. The required minimum length is not met, which contributes to the task being addressed only partially. To improve, complete all three bullet points with specific examples, especially how studying in Canada supported your computer science studies, and finish with a suitable closing.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5
There is a basic sequence: you introduce your experience, describe Canada, and begin discussing what you learnt. The opening and paragraph breaks also help signal the letter’s purpose and topic. However, the response ends abruptly in the middle of “while,” so there is no clear progression to the explanation of academic benefits or a closing. Some links between ideas are also unclear: “So please be advised” shifts suddenly from describing diversity to giving advice about translation. Develop each task point in a separate, complete paragraph and use straightforward links to show how each idea relates to your experience. A complete ending would make the letter feel more coherent.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “diverse,” “ethnicities,” “cultures,” and “food habits,” and the reader can understand the general subject of your experience. There are also attempts to express more specific ideas, such as “different backgrounds.” However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural, including “mixed races” and “language transalator,” and spelling errors such as “Unversity” and “persepective” reduce control. “Recent experiences” is also unclear because the letter refers to a year abroad. Aim for precise, natural phrases such as “people from a range of cultural backgrounds” and check spelling carefully. More vocabulary related to your studies would help you explain the academic benefits.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response includes both simple statements and attempts at longer sentences, for example, “Canada is a diverse country with people from different ethnicities.” However, control is uneven. “I hope you are doing good, I'm writing…” joins two independent clauses with only a comma, and “while pursuing Master in Computer Science” is not a complete, well-formed sentence. The final clause, “while,” is left unfinished, making the meaning incomplete. There are also issues with articles and sentence boundaries, as in “I have learnt lot” and the missing space after “ethnicities.” Use complete sentences, check article use (“a lot”), and vary sentence structures only when you can maintain accurate punctuation and grammar.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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