Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-08

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 are doing well. I recently saw an advertised that you need someone to help you in your house for next summer. Moreover, i heard that you moved here next week from british. I am a high school student and in march i will be graduating from the school, Furthermore, if you don't mind i would love to help you in your house chores for instance, cleaning the dishes, laundry, cutting the grass and many other things.

Especially, i would love to join you as working as a house helper will help me collect my future term fees and project in which we have to mention all the activity we will be doing this year. Neverthless, i am hoping to work in the morning as it is quite difficult for me to work in the evening becasue in the evening i work as a baby seater for Ms charlie and unfortunately your house and her house is located in opposite direction so it will be hard for me to travel all along.

I look forward to your positive response. Please let me know your decision sooner.

Best regards,

Suhani Jingar.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address all three requested points: you offer household help such as washing dishes, doing laundry and cutting the grass; explain that the work would help with your future fees; and state that mornings suit you better because you babysit in the evenings. These details make your purpose clear. However, availability is not fully precise: you do not say which days or dates you can work, and the explanation about the project is difficult to understand. The claim that Mrs Barrett moved “next week from British” is also unclear and does not help answer the task. Give a clearer, more specific schedule and develop your reason for wanting the job more directly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter has a recognisable structure, with an opening, a paragraph about your offer and motivation, and a closing. The ideas are generally relevant, and the contrast between morning availability and evening babysitting is understandable. However, several points are crowded into long sentences, and connectors such as “Moreover,” “Furthermore,” and “Especially” do not always show a clear relationship between ideas. The sentence about graduating, the project and future fees is particularly difficult to follow. Use separate paragraphs for your offer, motivation and schedule, and connect each point more directly. Clearer sequencing and less mechanical linking would make the letter easier to read.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a suitable range of everyday vocabulary for the task, including “house chores,” “laundry,” “cutting the grass,” “future term fees” and “opposite direction.” These choices help communicate the main points, although some expressions are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “saw an advertised,” “join you as working as a house helper,” and “travel all along.” There are also spelling and capitalisation slips, including “Neverthless,” “becasue,” and lowercase “i” and “british.” Aim for more natural collocations, such as “saw your advertisement,” “work as a household helper,” and “travel between the two houses.” Proofreading will improve clarity and control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a conditional offer (“if you don't mind”) and a reason clause explaining your evening commitment. The main message remains understandable, but some sentence structures are awkward or incomplete in their relationships. For example, “I recently saw an advertised that you need someone” does not form a correct clause, while “help me collect my future term fees and project” does not clearly connect the items. There are also errors in articles, tense and punctuation, such as “in march i will be graduating from the school” and the run-on transition from “Furthermore” to the next clause. Build shorter, complete sentences and check clause structure, capitalisation and punctuation.

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

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