Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-20

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 to inform you that, I had recently read your published article about the similarity of town centres. I am appreciating the way you had expalined everything beautifully, especailly scenematic view of our town centre among the others. Unfortunately, I feel unsatisfactory because you wrote that our town is similar with other city town centres.

Firstly, I am agree that my town centre have developed with public parks, gyms and hospital facilities and so on. But you had mentioned that it still looks similar with other town centres. Secondly, Golf club and personal health care is only newly build here in my town centre not in other city town centres which you might had missed to publish.

I am really glad to give you guided tour of my town to help you know about . So that you can have more clear view of our recently construct new facilities. Please for next time just update this new information. I hope you will consider my request and take the immediate action at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your understanding. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Your Faithfully,

Rupinder kaur.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address all three required points: you identify aspects of the article you agree with, describe facilities that distinguish your town, and offer the writer a tour. Your position is also clear: you appreciate parts of the article but disagree that your town is simply like others. The parks, gyms and hospital are relevant, while the golf club and personal healthcare facilities provide a more specific contrast. However, the distinctive features are only briefly stated, and the tour offer is not fully developed: “to help you know about” leaves unclear what the writer would see or learn. Explain more precisely what makes these facilities unusual and what the tour would include to make your response more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a recognisable structure, moving from your reaction to the article, to points of agreement and difference, and then to the tour offer and closing. Paragraphing helps separate these stages, and “Firstly” and “Secondly” make the comparison easy to follow. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “But you had mentioned that it still looks similar” does not clearly distinguish the article’s claim from your own view, and “So that you can have more clear view” is an incomplete connection to the previous sentence. The final request to update the information also interrupts the tour offer. Use clearer links between each point and keep the closing focused on the invitation.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “public parks,” “health care,” “facilities,” and “guided tour,” and the reader can generally understand your intended meaning. There are also attempts at more formal expressions, such as “published article” and “at your earliest convenience.” However, several word choices, collocations and spelling errors reduce precision: “I am appreciating,” “scenematic view,” “unsatisfactory,” and “newly build” are not natural or accurate in context. “Other city town centres” is also repetitive. Choose simpler, reliable expressions where needed, and check spelling and collocations so that your vocabulary communicates the town’s distinctive features more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast with “Unfortunately” and a relative clause in “which you might had missed to publish.” The overall message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors affect clarity and control. Examples include “I am agree,” “my town centre have developed,” and “you might had missed,” where agreement or verb forms are incorrect. The sentence beginning “So that you can have” is also a fragment, and “I am writing to inform you that, I had recently read” has an unnecessary comma and an awkward tense sequence. Practise accurate present and past forms, subject–verb agreement, and complete sentence construction while retaining your attempts at varied structures.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.