Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-18
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
You recently received a letter from a friend asking for advice about whether to go to college or to try to get a job. You think he/she should get a job.
Write a letter to this friend. In your letter
- say why he/she would not enjoy going to college
- explain why getting a job is a good idea for him/her
- suggest types of job that would be suitable for him/her
You do NOT need to write any addresses.
Begin your letter as follows:
Dear ................. ,
Student answer (Band 5.5)
Dear Gnani,
I hope you are doing great,
My suggestions after reading your letter:
1. I would like to suggest you to do job rather than going to college. Cause Job gives you industry exposure and experience. As you did engineering in computer since, any role which is towards technology or Ai suits you well. So that's the reason why I'm suggesting you to do job.
2. Getting a job is good idea in current job market situation. If you get job towards Ai or current trending technical language jobs. Will help you currently and in future as well. That's the reason why I'm suggesting you to do Job rather than joining in college.
3. My suggestions on type of jobs for you are wordpress Developer, AI Engineer, Devops or Azure Developer and other technical or Ai related jobs. These jobs suits you well, as you have computer science background.
Thank you,
Pavan Kumar.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
You have addressed all parts of the prompt by explaining why your friend might not enjoy college, arguing why getting a job is a good idea, and suggesting suitable roles such as a WordPress Developer or AI Engineer based on their computer science background. However, the format is structured like an unnatural bulleted list rather than a friendly, cohesive letter, which limits the development of your ideas. To reach a higher band, the response needs to flow naturally with standard letter paragraphs rather than numbered points.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The organization relies heavily on numbered lists rather than standard paragraphing, which disrupts the natural flow expected in a personal letter. While the progression of ideas is fairly clear in terms of content, the cohesive devices used are very repetitive (for example, starting multiple points with phrases like 'That's the reason why I'm suggesting...'). Paragraphing is not used appropriately for letter writing, and referencing between sentences is somewhat mechanical.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using topic-specific terms related to the IT industry such as 'industry exposure', 'computer science background', 'WordPress Developer', and 'AI Engineer'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'do job' instead of 'get a job' or 'work', and spelling issues like 'computer since' instead of 'computer science'. These errors do not impede communication, but they restrict your lexical score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
Your writing includes a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and relative clauses ('any role which is towards technology or Ai suits you well'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, including missing articles ('do job', 'is good idea'), incorrect preposition usage ('joining in college'), and sentence fragments ('Cause Job gives you industry exposure...'). These errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader.
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.