Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-02

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 am bachir and I live across the street in Badington neighberhood.I am writing this letter to tell you that I would like to give you a hand with your home.

I would also say that I can take care of your garden by weeding it and watering the orange plants so you don't need to t do any outdoor activities any more especially with your back problems that you have

Actually, it would be a pleasure to help you and t show you how kind and helpful the neighberhood residents are because we live here as big family with great sense of responsability and compassion.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to come for the next three days due to work commitment ,but I ensure to you that I am going to be available after that.

I am looking forward to hearing from you about should I bring the gardening tools or you already have ones ?

yours sincerely

Bachir

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the main purpose and include relevant details: you offer to weed and water the garden, explain that you want to show the neighbourhood’s helpfulness, and mention that you cannot come for the next three days. However, the availability information is incomplete: “available after that” does not specify which days or times you can work, and the reason for wanting the job is expressed mainly as helping the community rather than a personal motivation. The offer also focuses on outdoor work, so it would be clearer to say whether you can help with any household tasks. These points make the response only partly complete; develop each requested detail more fully and precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter follows a generally sensible order: you introduce yourself and your offer, describe a possible task, explain your motivation, and then discuss availability and ask a question. This gives the reader a coherent overall arrangement. Some links between ideas are less smooth, however. “I would also say” and “Actually” feel mechanical, while the long sentence about the neighbourhood combines several ideas without clear separation. The final question is relevant, but it would connect more naturally if you first confirmed your availability and then asked about tools. Use clear paragraph breaks for the offer, motivation, and schedule, and choose linking phrases that show the relationship between ideas rather than simply adding them.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the situation, including “take care of your garden,” “weeding,” “watering,” and “work commitment,” so the reader can understand the kind of help you are offering. There are also attempts at more expressive language, such as “a pleasure” and “sense of responsibility and compassion.” However, spelling errors such as “neighberhood” and “responsability,” along with awkward or inaccurate phrases such as “orange plants” and “give you a hand with your home,” reduce precision. “Big family” is also an imprecise way to describe a close-knit community. Check spelling carefully and choose natural collocations that clearly identify the plants and the work you can do.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and more complex sentences, including the clause “so you don’t need to do any outdoor activities” and the sentence explaining that you will be unavailable because of work. The main message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors make parts less clear. For example, “I am bachir” needs an appropriate capitalisation and introduction, “I ensure to you” has an incorrect verb pattern, and “about should I bring” uses incorrect word order in an indirect question. There are also missing or misplaced punctuation marks, such as the run-on sentence about your back problems. Practise indirect questions (“whether I should bring…”) and review sentence boundaries, articles, and verb patterns.

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

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