Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-08

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

All new employees at your workplace have a mentor - an experienced colleague who gives them advice and support in their career. As a new employee, you have been given details of your mentor.

Write a letter to introduce yourself to your new mentor. In your letter

• give a brief outline of your previous studies and work experience

• explain what help you hope your mentor can give

• suggest arrangements for a first meeting with your mentor

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear....... ,

Student answer (Band 4.0)

Dear Sally,

How are you? I'm Tania George, your new intern. I'm writing this letter to tell you more about me.

I completed my master's in the year 2021, specializing in finance. After that, I joined an IT company and worked there for 2 years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

You make a relevant start by introducing yourself as Tania and giving two details about your background: a master’s degree in finance completed in 2021 and two years at an IT company. However, the letter addresses only part of the task. It does not explain what support you hope Sally will provide, suggest a time or place for a first meeting, or include a suitable closing. The response is also substantially below the required 150 words, so there is not enough development to fulfil the purpose of the letter. To improve, cover all three bullet points explicitly and add relevant detail, such as the skills you want to develop and a couple of meeting options.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The ideas that are present follow a simple, understandable order: you greet Sally, introduce yourself, and then describe your education and work experience. The opening sentence, “I'm writing this letter to tell you more about me,” also signals the purpose. However, the response ends abruptly after the work-history detail, with no transition to your expectations or meeting proposal and no closing. Because the letter is so brief, it has little paragraph development or progression across the full task. Organise it into short paragraphs for your introduction and background, the help you seek, and the meeting arrangements; use linking phrases such as “Since then” or “I would also appreciate” to connect the points.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

Your vocabulary is clear enough to communicate the basic facts, using relevant terms such as “master's,” “specializing in finance,” and “IT company.” The wording is generally understandable, but the range is narrow and several expressions are quite general, particularly “tell you more about me” and “worked there.” There is not enough language to show flexible control across the purposes of the letter, such as describing career goals, requesting guidance, and arranging a meeting. Use more precise workplace vocabulary and natural collocations—for example, describe the role or responsibilities you had, and specify the professional skills you hope to develop. This would make the letter more informative and appropriately tailored to a mentor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The sentences are straightforward and mostly easy to understand. You use a question in “How are you?” and past-tense forms appropriately in “I completed” and “I joined,” with no major grammatical errors in the text provided. However, the response relies almost entirely on short, simple sentence patterns, so it demonstrates limited grammatical range. The sentence “After that, I joined an IT company and worked there for 2 years” is accurate but could be expanded to show more varied structure, such as explaining what you did there or how the experience relates to your new role. As you add the missing task points, practise combining ideas with subordinate clauses and using polite request forms, while checking punctuation and sentence boundaries.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.