Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-23
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 6.5)
Dear Mrs.Doris,
I am writing because you have been alloted as my mentor for my new job. I have been told that you are one of the experienced staff in the company who will be helping me out with any suggestions or career advice I may need.
I come from a marketing background where I have a degree in advertising and media. Also, I was working as a digital marketing associate before I took this offer. However, I barely have any practical experience in dealing with the retail consumers.
Your expertise in the field will definitely be helpful, and I am hoping to get trained under your supervision.I would also appreciate any sort of career advises, such as, how to grow in the retail industry or how we can tackle the most complex problems.
We can arrange a meeting next week and discuss about our first project. We can go on our lunch break together and get things started.
Kind regards,
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 7.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.0 |
| Overall | 6.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5
You address all three points: you outline your advertising and media degree and previous digital-marketing role, explain that you want guidance with retail consumers and career development, and propose meeting over lunch next week. These details make the letter relevant and establish a suitable purpose. The request for help is the least developed part: “how to grow in the retail industry” and “tackle the most complex problems” are broad, so a specific example of a skill or challenge you want to discuss would make your aims clearer. The meeting suggestion is also workable but could be more precise by offering a day or asking when your mentor is available. The response covers the task well, with some ideas needing further development.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0
The letter is organised in a clear sequence: introduction, background, the support you hope to receive, and a proposed meeting. Paragraphing helps the reader follow this progression, and links such as “Also” and “However” show how your ideas relate. The contrast introduced by “However” is especially useful because it explains the gap between your marketing experience and your limited retail experience. Some connections could be smoother: the shift from asking for training to requesting career advice is abrupt, and “We can arrange a meeting next week” could connect more directly to the topics you want to discuss. Overall, the organisation is logical; more flexible linking between related points would make the flow more polished.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
You use an adequate range of vocabulary for a professional introductory letter, including “marketing background,” “digital marketing associate,” “practical experience,” and “career advice.” These phrases communicate your experience and goals clearly. There are, however, some inaccurate word forms and collocations: “alloted” should be “allocated” or “assigned,” “career advises” should be “career advice,” and “discuss about” is not the natural expression. “Retail consumers” is understandable, but “retail customers” would sound more idiomatic in this context. The wording is generally clear, though some phrases are broad or repetitive. More precise workplace vocabulary and careful checking of collocations would improve flexibility and naturalness.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0
You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, and most of the message remains easy to understand. For example, “However, I barely have any practical experience in dealing with the retail consumers” uses a contrast effectively, while the longer sentence beginning “I am hoping to get trained” combines related requests. Some grammatical and punctuation errors remain. In “I am hoping to get trained under your supervision.I would also appreciate,” a space is needed after the full stop. “We can go on our lunch break together” would be more naturally structured as “We can meet during our lunch break.” The sentence patterns are serviceable, but greater accuracy in punctuation and grammatical phrasing would strengthen control.
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