Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-21

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 4.0)

The line graphs track changes in the proportions of families with electrical devices and the amount of time of houseworks.

Overall, the use of refrigerators and vacuum cleaners rose sharply over the year, while the ownership of washing machines saw a little rise. Furthermore, the time dedicated to housework declined significantly over the years.

In 1920, no families owned a refrigerator, whereas about 30% of families used a vacuum cleaner and 40% used a washing machine. By 1940, the ownership of refrigerators surged, accounting for more than 50% of households, similar to vacuum cleaners, while 60% of households used a washing machine. The use of washing machines declined slightly in 1980, accounting for more than 60% of households. By 2019, 100% of households had refrigerators and vacuum cleaners, while more than 70% had a washing machine in their households.

Moreover, families spent significantly less time on housework over the years. In 1920, a family spent 50 hours per week doing housework, which declined significantly to 20 hours by 1960. In the next 50 years, the number fell slightly to approximately 10 hours per week.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0

The response is completely off-topic. The task required a letter to Mrs Barrett regarding a job advertisement for home help. Instead, the student provided a report describing line graphs about household appliances and housework time. Because the response does not address any of the bullet points (suggesting help, explaining motivation, or stating availability) and fails to adopt the required letter format, it fails to meet the task requirements entirely. This is a significant failure to address the prompt, resulting in a low score for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

While the response is structured as a report with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a summary, the content is irrelevant to the prompt. Within the context of the text provided, the ideas are logically sequenced and paragraphing is used appropriately. Cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'In 1920', and 'Moreover' are used correctly to link sentences and ideas. However, because the entire response is a misinterpretation of the task, the coherence is applied to a completely different writing genre than requested.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for describing trends in a graph, such as 'rose sharply', 'surged', 'declined significantly', and 'accounted for'. The range is sufficient to convey the intended meaning of the data analysis. However, as the vocabulary is entirely focused on a task that was not set, it does not demonstrate the ability to use language appropriate for a personal letter or the specific requirements of the prompt.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a reasonable command of grammar, using a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are few grammatical errors, such as 'amount of time of houseworks' (should be 'amount of time spent on housework'). The control of tense and sentence construction is generally accurate. However, the grammatical range is limited to descriptive reporting language rather than the functional language required for a letter of application.

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

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