Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-24

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

• say why you enjoy walking and where

• describe the litter you have seen on your walks

• suggest what might be done about the problem

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 am writting this letter to inform you that I want to make a report on how much litter was being left by other walkers near my home whenever I walk outside my place in the countryside. In order to have a better awareness of other people that happen to this community.

Walking was a great impact to my life because it made me more healthier and active throughout the day. I enjoyed moslty walking at the park where it is near my home also after every work made me walk to relax and de stress.

Some the garbage that I saw was mostly water bottles, plastics, wrappers of what they ate and also poop of animals where some of them walk with their dogs at the park. Its becoming more and more inappropriate habits of people on what they are doing. They must be hold accountable on their irresponsible actions that made the park more hard to be cleaned at because of many rubbish.

I would like this letter to be a statement to your newspaper that many people now loitering in public parks and roads. It would be much more appropriate that they must take their garbage to proper trash bins so others will not be bothered walking on parks or roads so this must be also a reflection that of what actions they have. Lastly it would be great that anyone who litters will be fined if they got caught doing it.

Kind regards,

Julian Kilayko

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address all three points: you explain that walking helps you stay active and relax, identify the park near your home, describe bottles, plastic, food wrappers and animal waste, and suggest bins and fines. This makes the letter relevant and gives the reader a clear sense of your concern. Some parts are less fully developed than others: the reasons you enjoy walking are brief, and the proposed solutions could be more specific—for example, where extra bins should be placed or how the newspaper might encourage residents to act. The purpose is clear, although the opening sentence is awkward and the statement about raising awareness is incomplete. Develop these points more clearly to make the letter more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a generally coherent structure: it introduces the problem, explains your enjoyment of walking, describes the litter, and ends with suggestions. Paragraphing helps distinguish these parts, and expressions such as “Some the garbage that I saw” and “Lastly” signal movement between ideas. However, some links are mechanical or unclear. The opening shifts from reporting litter to “In order to have a better awareness” without completing the connection, while the final paragraph combines several ideas in long sentences. The reference to “they” in “they must take their garbage” is understandable but could be more precise. Use clearer transitions and divide the suggestions into shorter, logically connected sentences to improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main issue, including “water bottles,” “wrappers,” “trash bins,” “litter” and “fined.” There are also attempts at more expressive language, such as “irresponsible actions” and “accountable.” However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, including “writting,” “moslty,” “more healthier,” and “loitering” where you mean littering. Some combinations are unnatural, such as “make a report on how much litter was being left” and “a great impact to my life.” Choose more natural collocations and check spelling and word forms. More precise vocabulary for the location and possible clean-up measures would also strengthen the letter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, and the main message is usually understandable. However, errors in sentence construction and grammatical forms are frequent enough to make some passages difficult to follow. For example, “In order to have a better awareness of other people that happen to this community” is a fragment, and “Some the garbage that I saw” is missing a grammatical link. In “It’s becoming more and more inappropriate habits,” the subject and verb do not agree, while “they must be hold accountable” has an incorrect passive form. Practise building complete sentences with clear subjects and verbs, and check agreement, articles and verb forms. Breaking up long sentences will also help you control punctuation.

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

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