Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-02

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 to draw your attention to the article number 12, written on 18th October. This article illustrate that town centre of our country, Canada, look similar to other centres, which I believe is not true.

Although, all the other information is mentioned accurately such as, etheral decoration at town centre, gym facilities, shopping Malls, post offices, libraries, cinemas for entertainment, etcetera. However, there are some advanced availabilty of resourses, which other town centres does not offer. For instance, cleanliness. In other words, some centres shows casual approach to clean the place appropriately.

It would be really appreciated if you could visit to our town for the guided tour, so that you can change your view about the centre by looking at all the facilities provided at the centre.

I hope to get a prompt response and I look forward to meeting you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Richa

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You successfully cover all parts of the task prompt, including acknowledging the article, explaining how your town centre differs, and offering a guided tour. Your position is generally clear. However, some ideas are under-developed or lack full clarity. For example, when mentioning features like 'etheral decoration at town centre, gym facilities, shopping Malls', these points are merely listed rather than expanded upon. Additionally, your explanation of cleanliness and how your town centre stands out remains somewhat vague, such as writing 'some centres shows casual approach to clean the place appropriately.' To reach a higher level, you need to fully extend and support your ideas with more specific details and examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your letter has a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical structure appropriate for formal correspondence, moving from the reference to the article to your specific points and concluding with an invitation. You use standard formatting and appropriate opening and closing salutations such as 'Dear Sir or Madam,' and 'Yours faithfully,'. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases like 'Although, all the other information is mentioned accurately' and 'However, there are some advanced availabilty of resourses' do not link your thoughts smoothly and misuse conjunctions. Referencing and paragraph transitions could be managed more flexibly to ensure a smoother, more natural flow throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'attention', 'facilities', and 'entertainment'. You attempt some less common vocabulary, such as 'etheral' and 'availabilty', but these attempts are accompanied by noticeable inaccuracies in spelling and word choice. There are also errors in word form and collocation, such as writing 'article illustrate' instead of 'illustrates', and 'visit to our town' instead of visiting the town directly. These errors reflect a limited range and occasional mistakes that stem from spelling and lexical slips, though they do not completely impede communication. To improve, you should focus on precision in word choice and careful proofreading of spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over sentence structures. However, your writing contains frequent errors in grammar, subject-verb agreement, and articles. For example, you write 'town centre of our country... look similar' where a plural verb is incorrectly matched or articles are missing, and 'other town centres does not offer' instead of 'do not offer'. Furthermore, punctuation errors appear, such as unnecessary commas after 'Although' and 'such as'. These errors require some effort from the reader to decode. A higher band would require a greater frequency of error-free sentences and tighter control over grammatical patterns and agreements.

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

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