Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-28

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 4.0)

Dear Saba, Hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to tell you that I have read an article in newspaper.I do not completely agree with this you have mentioned that twon cwntres in my country looks same with eachother . I agree iwth this point , but there is not so much similar , In bigger cities of country , there are more different things to see , they have wide rods . as we go down towards smallaer cities

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response is severely under-length, containing only 83 words compared to the required 150-word minimum. Because of this, the student fails to cover all parts of the task fully. While the letter opens by addressing the article and mentioning agreement with certain points, it trails off abruptly, fails to explain specific ways the writer's town centre is different, and completely omits the required offer to give a guided tour. Furthermore, the salutation is incorrect for a formal letter to a newspaper editor ('Dear Saba' instead of 'Dear Sir or Madam'). Consequently, the task is only partially addressed, leading to a low band score.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The text suffers from severe organizational and structural issues. There is no clear paragraphing, and the text ends abruptly with dangling thoughts and broken sentences. Cohesive devices are largely absent or misused, and the mechanical layout of the text—including excessive spacing and typographical irregularities—interferes with readability. Although the letter starts with a standard opening pleasantry, the logical progression breaks down immediately afterward, making it difficult to follow the writer's line of reasoning. Overall, the structural coherence does not meet the standards required for higher band levels.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.0

Vocabulary usage is very basic and heavily restricted. The student uses simple terms such as 'article', 'town', and 'cities', alongside noticeable spelling and word-choice errors like 'twon cwntres', 'looks same with eachother', and 'iwth'. There are repeated typographical mistakes and incorrect collocations, such as 'wide rods' (intended to be roads). The range of vocabulary is inadequate for discussing more abstract or detailed urban characteristics, and these lexical limitations frequently cause strain for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting mostly of basic clause structures that frequently contain structural and punctuation errors. There are multiple sentence fragments and incomplete thoughts, such as 'there is not so much similar' and 'as we go down towards smallaer cities'. Punctuation is faulty, with missing periods and erratic spacing. Grammatical accuracy is very low throughout the short text, resulting in frequent errors that impede understanding and demonstrate a lack of control over basic sentence construction.

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

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