Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-20

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have just read an article in a national newspaper which claims that town centres in your country all look very similar to each other. You don't fully agree with this opinion.

Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper. In your letter

• say which points in the article you agree with
• explain ways in which your town centre is different from most other town centres
• offer to give a guided tour of your town to the writer of the article

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear sir,

I am writing in response to your article in which you clearly mentioned about our town that is quite similar than others town.as a resident of this town I want to clear some aspects to you.

I would like to discuss some important points with you in which I am agreeing with you,like you mentioned in your artical. it is green lush area I appreciate you and agreed about different points like better sewerage system, specious park and play ground.

There are many ways,s in which my town has no similarity with other one,s like it has broad houses ,lot of schools and health care system is advance than other .additionally over all security system is more secure than other towns.

I personally offer you.Please come with me and visit my town by your on then you finalised I am wrong or right.i will guide you about the hidden positive side of my town

I hope you must appreciate my effort and I am look forward to hearing from you.

Your well wisher

Bahi

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task. You acknowledged the article, explained how your town differs, and extended an invitation for a tour. However, the development of these points is somewhat limited. For example, when explaining why your town is different, you list features like 'broad houses' and 'security system' without providing enough detail to fully convince the reader. To improve, try to expand on your ideas with specific examples or descriptive language to better support your position. Your tone is generally appropriate for a letter to an editor, though it could be slightly more formal.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. You use some basic cohesive devices like 'additionally' and 'I am writing in response to'. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and there are issues with punctuation, such as missing spaces after commas and periods (e.g., 'ways,s', 'other one,s'). Improving your use of linking words and ensuring correct punctuation will help your ideas progress more smoothly and make your writing look more professional.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your message, but there are several instances of awkward word choice and spelling errors that occasionally impede the reader. For example, 'specious' is likely a misspelling of 'spacious', and 'finalised' is used incorrectly in the context of the tour invitation. You also rely on basic descriptors like 'better' and 'more secure'. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise adjectives and ensuring that your word choices are accurate for the context of a formal letter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

Your writing shows a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'I am agreeing with you'), incorrect comparative structures ('similar than' instead of 'similar to'), and missing articles. Additionally, the misuse of apostrophes (e.g., 'one,s') and capitalization errors throughout the text are distracting. While your meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors suggest that you need to focus on proofreading your work for basic grammatical accuracy.

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

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