Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · 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 4.0)

Dear Mr. or Mrs. Chen,

I am writing this letter to inform to discuss a problem that i have been experiencing recently. Unfortunately, I have not been able to inform you in person because of my busy schedule. The main problem is the noise which is coming from your house, mostly in the evening time. I noticed that there are alot of noises, such as loud music and people talking till late night. This makes very difficult for me to sleep and I cannot wake up early in the morning because of sleep disturbance.

I would like to suggest you that you should keep the noise down after 10p.m. If you are planning a party, I would appreciate if you could inform me in advance. I completely understand that you should enjoy your free time, but i hope we can find the best solution which is suitable for both of us.

If the situation does not improve, i will contact to the building manager or landlord to discuss the matter. I think I do not need to take this action, as we can solve the problem in a friendly way.

Thank you for your understanding. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Sid Apaya

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0

The response completely fails to address the prompt instructions and task question. The prompt specifically asks you to write a letter to Mrs Barrett applying for a summer job helping in her home, outlining how you can help, why you want to do the work, and your availability. However, your letter is addressed to Mr. or Mrs. Chen and discusses a noise complaint about loud music and parties. This indicates that you responded to the wrong task entirely. Because the content is completely off-topic and fails to fulfill any of the required bullet points for Mrs Barrett's advertisement, it cannot earn a passing score for Task Achievement. Consequently, this criterion must be heavily penalised to reflect the total mismatch between the prompt and the content provided.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

Despite being off-topic regarding the task prompt, the letter itself is structured logically with a clear introduction, body paragraphs dealing with the complaint and proposed solutions, and a polite sign-off. You used paragraphs appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as stating the problem in the first paragraph, suggesting solutions in the second, and mentioning potential consequences in the third. Cohesive devices like 'Unfortunately', 'The main problem', and 'If the situation does not improve' are used reasonably well to connect ideas and guide the reader. However, referencing is occasionally repetitive, and paragraph progression could be smoother. These structural elements demonstrate a basic coherence that prevents a lower score, even though the content fails the task requirements.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used throughout the response is generally adequate for communicating everyday messages, but it contains noticeable errors and awkward phrasings. For example, you wrote 'inform to discuss' instead of 'inform you' or 'discuss', and used 'alot' (which should be 'a lot'). There is an attempt to use functional vocabulary related to complaints and negotiations, such as 'appreciation', 'solution', and 'friendly way', but the range remains quite limited and repetitive. Spelling and word choice issues, such as 'till late night' instead of 'until late at night', prevent the vocabulary from reaching higher bands. With more precise word choices and careful proofreading of common lexical items, your lexical score would improve significantly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional clauses ('If you are planning a party, I would appreciate if you could inform me in advance'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward prepositional uses. For instance, you wrote 'inform to discuss', 'noise which is coming', and 'i will contact to the building manager' (where 'contact' does not take the preposition 'to'). Punctuation and capitalization errors also appear, such as lowercase 'i' used independently. While these errors do not completely impede communication and the reader can understand the meaning of your complaint, their frequency prevents the grammar from meeting the threshold for higher band scores.

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

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