Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-15

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 will inform you that I will ready of your help. Actually, my friend told me about you that you need a person who help you for your work. I will do assist you by clean up your home and washing your clothes and other things which you will say. I want to do your help as I need work for manage my household expeness and my fill to fees of my study. Although, I do work another place, however I will do this work as part time on weekends. Moreover, I want to improve my english language, so I think it is best way to learn through doing conversation in daily basis with you which will helpful to improve my english language. I want to tell you before starting work that I will available on weekends because I am busy in my study as well as my another jobs. I hope that you will understand my situation and give me chance to do work in your home.

Your's faithful,

Gurpreet

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt: suggesting how you can help, explaining your motivation, and clarifying your availability. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, while you mention cleaning and washing, the explanation of your availability is slightly contradictory; you initially state you are available on weekends, but then mention you are busy with other jobs. The tone is generally appropriate for a letter, though it lacks the polish expected for a formal request. To improve, ensure your ideas are fully expanded and consistent throughout the letter.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter follows a logical sequence, moving from the purpose of the letter to your skills, motivation, and finally your availability. You use some basic cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'Although', and 'Actually'. However, the use of these connectors is sometimes mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as the transition 'Although, I do work another place, however...'. Paragraphing is also absent, which makes the text appear as a single block. Using clear paragraph breaks for each main point would significantly improve the readability and structure of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is sufficient to convey your message, but it is quite basic and repetitive. You rely on simple phrases like 'do your help' and 'do work'. There are also some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'fill to fees' instead of 'pay my tuition fees' and 'ready of your help' which is unclear. To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more precise vocabulary related to household tasks and employment, and work on natural collocations rather than literal translations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There is a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence structures, but accuracy is inconsistent. You frequently struggle with verb forms and prepositions, such as 'I will ready of your help' (I am writing to offer my help) and 'I will do assist you' (I can assist you). There are also issues with subject-verb agreement and article usage. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of grammatical errors is high enough to cause some strain for the reader. Focusing on basic sentence construction and verb tense consistency will help improve your score.

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

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