Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Mrs Barrett, an English-speaking woman who lives in your town, has advertised for someone to help her in her home for a few hours a day next summer.

Write a letter to Mrs Barrett. In your letter

• suggest how you could help her in her home
• say why you would like to do this work
• explain when you will and will not be available

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Mrs Barrett,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Mrs Barrett,

I hope you find this letter. I saw your advertisement that you need someone for helping you out with your home stuff for a few hours. It will be a great oppertunity for me to help you.

I can easily life up the heavy things from the drawing room and also as I have knowledge with electronic I can help you fix that if you say. I will clean up the doors and windows as I am young enough to do it without any problem. It would be very nice to help you with this just because I was helping my grandmother during summer time and I was really feeling happy after I do the helping hand job for her.

Also, I would like to tell you that I will be available during weekends that is Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday as well. Thank you.

Your kindly,

Jared

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address the main purpose by offering household help, explaining your motivation, and giving some availability information. The examples of lifting items, cleaning windows, and helping with electronics are relevant, and your experience helping your grandmother gives a personal reason for applying. However, the availability is unclear: you list Friday through Monday but do not say which days or times you cannot work, despite the task asking for both. Your motivation is also only briefly explained, and the opening, “I hope you find this letter,” does not clearly establish your purpose. To make the response more complete, state your exact working hours and unavailable periods, and develop why this particular work suits you and Mrs Barrett’s needs.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a generally understandable order: you refer to the advertisement, describe possible tasks, explain your interest, and then discuss availability. Paragraph breaks help separate these points, and linking expressions such as “Also” and “as” show some connections between ideas. However, the second paragraph combines several different offers and your personal motivation, so the progression is not always smooth. The final availability statement is abrupt, and “Thank you” does not lead naturally into the sign-off. Use a separate paragraph for your reasons and another for your schedule, with clearer transitions such as “I am interested in this position because…” and “Regarding my availability…”.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough everyday vocabulary to communicate the basic ideas, including “heavy things,” “drawing room,” “electronic,” and “weekends.” There are also attempts to use phrases such as “helping hand” and “advertisement.” However, several choices are inaccurate or informal for a letter applying for work: “home stuff” is vague, “fix that” lacks a clear reference, and “helping hand job” is unnatural. The spelling “oppertunity” is also incorrect, and “Your kindly” is not an appropriate closing phrase. Choose more precise household vocabulary and conventional letter expressions, for example, “household chores,” “repair small electrical appliances,” and “Yours sincerely.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including a sentence beginning “I can easily…” and a reason clause introduced by “just because.” The main message is usually understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “I hope you find this letter” is incomplete in meaning, while “I was really feeling happy after I do” shifts awkwardly between past and present forms. In “I will be available during weekends that is Friday…,” the clause is not joined correctly to the list. The sentence about your skills also contains an unclear pronoun reference in “fix that.” Practise forming complete, clearly linked sentences and keeping verb tenses consistent when describing past experience.

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

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