Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-29

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 have just gone through your article in the National newspaper about similarities of town centres accross the country. Admittedly, your article holds true in most cases, but arguably having a same yardstick for all the town centres have not done justice to the reality.

A town centre mainly comprised of shopping mall, a kids' playing area, a food court, and a community centre mainly. No doubt, there is broad consensus that similiar structures are found accross the country, with minor layout changes here and there.

However, despite of these structural and layout similarities across the board, a critical element that a makes town centre stands different than others is usually because of commodities or services it deals with. My town centre, for example, is famous for it renowed hospital, which is not only serving the local community, but extend its services to other communities as well, especially for people suffering with diabeties. As my town is also famous for the yield of majdool dates in August, a huge line up of vendors can be noticed from July to October, which makes it way different than other town centres.

As a consequence, I would request that, when presenting comparision, you also reconsider the overall diversified portfolio which a town centre serve along with its distinct selling points, rather than just signifying the overal layout.

Yours faithfully

Muhammad Waqass

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response covers all three bullet points from the prompt: it acknowledges parts of the article agreed with, explains how the writer's town centre differs through specific examples like the renowned hospital and majdool dates, and attempts to offer a guided tour, though the offer to give a guided tour is missing in the text (the writer requests reconsideration of comparisons instead). Because the third bullet point was missed, the task achievement is affected, although the tone and format of a semi-formal letter are well-maintained throughout. The ideas about town centres are relevant and clear, despite minor gaps in covering the specific third bullet requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter is generally coherent and arranged in logical paragraphs, moving from an introduction and partial agreement to structural similarities, and finally to specific differentiating features. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'However', 'despite of', and 'My town centre, for example'. However, there are some mechanical transitions and awkward referencing, such as 'having a same yardstick for all the town centres have not done justice' which slightly disrupts the flow. Paragraphing is used adequately to separate distinct ideas, keeping the letter structured and readable overall.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for the task, including phrases like 'diversified portfolio', 'distinct selling points', and 'broad consensus'. However, there are several lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as 'accross' (across), 'a same yardstick', 'comprised of shopping mall' (missing plural/article), 'renowed' (renowned), and 'diabeties' (diabetes). Despite these inaccuracies, communication is not impeded, and the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning and arguments clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as concessive clauses starting with 'despite of these structural...'. However, there are several grammatical and mechanical errors throughout, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'having a same yardstick... have not done justice' and prepositional/idiomatic errors like 'suffering with diabeties' instead of 'suffering from diabetes'. Punctuation and spelling errors also occur ('accross', 'renowed', 'comparision'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the writing from reaching a higher band score.

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