Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-30

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 5.0)

Dear Aman,

i hope you are doing well. i know why are you confuse to choose going to college or get a job. As you are not very interested to do studies in earlier days of college you are not very curious to make the assignments and presentations in college time but you are only like to do the practical thins so according to this situation i d'ont think so you should be continue your studies. Intsead of this so should try to find out a job for you according to me you are very good in team work and collabration as well as you have better communication skills so you find out a job related to customer services in this way you can become financial independand or you can get experience related to this field as one of friend is in the same field he earns good amount of money i hope you will do well in your futture.Best of Luck.

Best regards

your friend

Sarbjeet

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions. You successfully explain why your friend would not enjoy college by pointing out a lack of interest in academic studies and a preference for practical work. You also explain why getting a job is a good idea, mentioning financial independence and gaining relevant experience. Finally, you suggest a suitable type of job in customer service based on communication skills and teamwork. However, the ideas are presented in a single continuous paragraph without clear expansion or separation, which keeps the task development at a moderate level. Overall, the task is adequately addressed in line with the band descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response suffers significantly from a lack of paragraphing, as the entire letter is written as one long block of text. Furthermore, punctuation is largely neglected; sentences run into one another without proper full stops or capital letters, such as 'Dear Aman, i hope...'. Cohesive devices are minimal and basic, relying heavily on run-on structures rather than logical conjunctions or transitional phrases. While there is an overall general progression of ideas from college to job suggestions, the absence of basic structural organisation and referencing conventions places this criterion within the lower bands.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'collaboration', 'practical', and 'financial independent'. However, there are numerous word choice and form errors throughout the text, such as 'confuse' instead of 'confused', 'thins' instead of 'things', 'd'ont' instead of 'don't', and 'financial independand' instead of 'financially independent'. Spelling and morphological inaccuracies are noticeable, which occasionally causes minor strain for the reader, though communication of the main points remains intact.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The text relies heavily on simple and compound structures that are joined incorrectly by commas or run together without punctuation. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'why are you confuse to choose', 'you should be continue', and 'so should try'. Subject-verb agreement and prepositional usage also show frequent inaccuracies. Complex sentence attempts are faulty and lack correct punctuation control. Because errors are frequent across basic and complex sentences, the grammar meets the descriptors for Band 5.0.

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

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