Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-20

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 or Madam

I am writing this letter in response to the article you wrote which claims towncentres in my country are very similar to each other.

Upto to some some extent I am agree with your statement that mostly the architechture design and area of all the town centres is same. Also, each centre has common shops like grocery stores, gas stations and other kind of basic eminities.

However, there area few differences relate to the cultural things. Each town centre displays the culture of the local people living there which is uniqueness of every town centre. Moreover, in some town centre they offer outdoor events and in others there are only indoor activities for individuals to do beacause of the wheather conditions.

I would like offer to you guided tour to my town centre so that you can expirence the uniqueness of my town. Feel free to contact through my cellphone number ([redacted phone]).

Yours Faithfully

Ram

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully covers all three bullet points required in the task prompt. Firstly, the response acknowledges agreement with certain aspects of the newspaper article regarding shared architectural designs and basic amenities, such as 'architechture design and area of all the town centres is same'. Secondly, the writer explains specific differences in their town centre, highlighting cultural displays and varying weather-driven activities ('indoor activities for individuals to do beacause of the wheather conditions'). Finally, the letter effectively offers a guided tour to the writer of the article. While some ideas like the cultural uniqueness could be extended further, the student addresses all parts of the prompt with a clear and consistent position throughout, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable beginning and end, starting with the mandated 'Dear Sir or Madam' and closing appropriately with 'Yours Faithfully Ram'. Paragraphing is used to separate distinct ideas, such as agreement, differences, and the offer of a tour. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases are occasionally awkward, such as 'Upto to some some extent I am agree', and referencing lacks precision in places ('in some town centre they offer...'). Paragraph breaks are present, but logical progression between sentences occasionally stumbles due to repetitive phrasing and minor organisational bumps. This reflects the characteristics of a Band 6 performance in coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic ideas about town centres, amenities, and culture. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary items such as 'eminities' (amenities) and 'expirence', but these reveal issues with spelling and word choice. Other expressions like 'cultural things' and 'basic eminities' demonstrate a somewhat limited range that is just sufficient to convey the message. There are several noticeable lexical and spelling inaccuracies—such as 'architechture', 'wheather', and 'Upto to some some extent'—which prevent the vocabulary score from reaching higher bands. However, communication is not seriously impeded, fitting a Band 5.5 or solid Band 5 lexical resource profile, rounded here to 5.5 based on overall adequacy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as the concessive clause 'Although each town centre...'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in article usage, prepositions, and verb forms, including 'I am agree' instead of 'I agree', 'there area few differences relate' instead of 'related', and 'to give guided tour' missing an article. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and sentence boundaries are mostly clear, but errors persist across many sentences and occasionally cause minor strain for the reader. The structural range is somewhat limited, and complex attempts are frequently flawed, placing the performance firmly in the Band 5 category for grammar.

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

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