Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-16

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,

With all due respect, I am writting this letter to you to let you know that I have read your advertiment to have someone in the summers for work.

Respected town mate, I can help you out with your household work in my summer brake as I will be free on that time from my school. I can do most of the in household work by myself even if you away from home.

The another and the biggest reason why I want to do this work is, I am really into older people and just love to serve people who are same age as my gramd parents. Otherthan that I would love to meet you before that as long as you are comfortable for that.

The another thing, there are certain time slots when I will be available for the work. well on the weel days I can come to your house in evenings as I have work in the day but on the weekends I can be there for whole day.

looking forward to see you soon, 10.10.2026

Yours truly,

James Pattison

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You successfully covered all three bullet points required in the task instructions. You suggested how you could help Mrs Barrett with household work during your summer break, explained your motivation by stating your fondness for older people and a desire to help, and outlined your availability on weekdays versus weekends. However, the tone of your letter is slightly inconsistent and overly informal in places, opening with an inappropriate phrase ('With all due respect') and an unnatural greeting ('Respected town mate'). Despite these stylistic flaws, all parts of the prompt are addressed adequately, placing your performance at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

Your letter is organised into paragraphs, each dedicated to a different point from the prompt, which helps the reader follow your message. However, the logical progression is occasionally disrupted by awkward transitions and repetitive phrasing, such as starting multiple paragraphs with 'The another and the biggest' or 'The another thing'. Cohesive devices are used, but they are sometimes mechanical or inaccurate. Paragraphing is present, but overall referencing and transitions require better control to achieve a higher band. This corresponds to a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

You demonstrate an adequate vocabulary range to communicate your basic message, using terms like 'household work', 'summer break', and 'available'. However, there are frequent spelling errors ('writting', 'advertiment', 'break' spelled as 'brake', 'Otherthan', 'weel'), as well as awkward collocations and word choices ('Respected town mate', 'same age as my gramd parents'). These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict your lexical score to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional or dependent clauses ('as I will be free on that time from my school'). However, your writing contains frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips, including incorrect prepositions ('on that time' instead of 'at that time', 'for the work' instead of 'to work'), run-on clauses, and missing articles. While your meaning can still be understood, the density of grammatical mistakes prevents you from reaching higher bands. This warrants a Band 5.0.

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

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