Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-30

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 your recent newspaper article about thw similar looked town centres in Ottawa. I felt really obscure about the idea you presented in your article.

Being a person who was born and raised here I know this town centre my whole life. There is a history that lays behind the structure of the centre which most of the people are unaware about. All the buildings you see in the town centre was built after the civil war. In which a lot of people lost their life and the older town got vanished. Civilians started to rebuilt the town from scratch. All of the people came together and built it and the buildings are the remarks of the war, struggle and the life after that.

If you watch those buildings close, you can see the different art works which symbolises the war and unity of people.

So, these are not some similar looking buildings. They all tells a story of peace and harmony. If you are interested I would like to offer you a guided tour to explain more about my town. Please let me know of your availability.

Hope to chat with you soon.

Regards,

Neethu Simon

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You make your disagreement clear by explaining that the buildings reflect Ottawa’s history, and you fulfil the offer-of-a-tour point with “I would like to offer you a guided tour.” However, the task is only partly addressed: you do not clearly identify any specific point in the article that you agree with, even though the letter should acknowledge some part of its argument. The explanation of what makes your town different is relevant, but it focuses almost entirely on the post-war history and symbolism; concrete examples of distinctive buildings, design, or features would develop this point more fully. Your position is understandable, but the response needs a more balanced and complete treatment of all three instructions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall shape: it introduces the article, explains the town’s history, describes the buildings, and ends with an invitation. Paragraphing helps separate these stages, and links such as “So” and “If you are interested” make the progression easy to follow. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some effective progression. To make the flow more consistently clear, connect the historical account more explicitly to the article’s claim and separate the points you agree with from your disagreement. Some references are also vague, such as “these” in “these are not some similar looking buildings,” so naming the buildings or features again would strengthen cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “civil war,” “unity,” “struggle,” and “harmony,” which helps communicate the town’s historical character. There are also attempts at more descriptive language, such as “built the town from scratch.” However, the range is limited in places, and several inaccurate or unnatural choices make the letter less precise: “thw similar looked” appears to be a spelling and word-form error, “felt really obscure” does not express your reaction naturally, and “remarks of the war” is not the intended collocation. Aim for accurate phrases such as “similar-looking town centres,” “was surprised by the claim,” and “reminders of the war.” More precise vocabulary for distinctive architecture would also help.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the relative clause in “which most of the people are unaware about” and the conditional opening “If you watch those buildings close.” The main ideas remain understandable, but errors occur often enough to affect fluency and control. For example, “All the buildings … was built” needs plural agreement (“were built”), while “the older town got vanished” has an incorrect verb construction. “In which a lot of people lost their life” is a sentence fragment, and “They all tells” has subject–verb disagreement. Practise checking agreement, verb forms, and complete sentence structure, especially when joining ideas with clauses.

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

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