Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-18

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You enjoy walking in the countryside near your home. However, you are noticing that there is more and more litter left there by other walkers.

Write a letter to your local newspaper. In your letter

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I writing this letter to you about the litter that people are throwing on the road and all the age generation must be aware of the situtation. Every morning i take a walk around the village farm, its has many green trees along with a small pond and the view is fanstatic.

Moreover, from the past few week i have seen people throwing garbage on the street rather than the trashcan. I want to post a small artical about this problem on your newspaper, so that everyone can stop making this pollution and keep the surrounding clean.

I have a few suggestion on how to keep the area less polluted, in that case we request all the urban people to gather together to sweep the place on every weekend that as many as old and young people can come for a walk to keep themselves fit.

Thank you for your understanding and coperation.

Thanks & regard,

James Bond

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the three requested points: you explain that you walk each morning near the village farm and enjoy its trees and pond, describe litter being left on the street, and propose a community clean-up. These details make the letter relevant, but the task is only partly developed. The litter description is quite general; naming examples such as bottles, wrappers, or cans would make the problem clearer. Your proposed action focuses on weekend sweeping, but could be more practical and specific by suggesting more bins, signs, or a newspaper appeal asking walkers to take their rubbish home. The purpose of writing to the newspaper is present, though the request for publication could be stated more directly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a clear overall arrangement: it introduces the concern, gives background about your walks, describes the litter, and then offers a suggestion. Paragraphing helps the reader follow these stages, and linking expressions such as “Moreover” and “so that” show attempts to connect ideas. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “I have a few suggestion … in that case we request” does not clearly show how the suggestion follows from the problem, and the long final sentence combines several ideas without a clear progression. Use more direct transitions and separate the clean-up proposal from its intended benefit. A conventional closing would also make the letter feel more complete.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main topic, with relevant words such as “litter,” “garbage,” “trashcan,” “pond,” and “pollution.” However, the range is limited and several spelling or word-choice errors reduce precision, including “situtation,” “fanstatic,” “artical,” and “coperation.” Some expressions are also unnatural or imprecise: “all the age generation” and “urban people” do not clearly identify the walkers or local residents, while “making this pollution” is not a natural collocation. Choose more precise phrases such as “people of all ages,” “local residents,” and “contributing to pollution.” Checking spelling and using natural collocations would make your message clearer and more polished.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentence forms, and the reader can generally understand your main message. However, errors in basic sentence construction and agreement are frequent enough to affect clarity. For example, “I writing this letter” needs a finite verb (“I am writing”), and “its has many green trees” should be “it has.” There are also errors in number and agreement in “a few suggestion,” as well as sentence-boundary problems in the long final sentence. Capitalise “I” consistently, and use full stops to separate complete ideas. Practise accurate present-tense forms, articles, and plural endings before adding more complex clauses; this will help you express your suggestions more reliably.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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