Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-30

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 5.5)

Dear Raman,

Trust life's treating you quite well! I wanted to know that you're doing great with positive thoughts.

Despite the distance between us you didn't have that much friends in your college so thats why you feel very lonely during your class. I've think that it would be the great reason for not enjoy to going college.

So I think that getting a great job is a good option for you. By this way you'll greet with new person on your work and share your feelings and listen thier thoughts as well . That really extremely helps you .

From my prespective, you've a quite knowledge in microsoft things. So the positions like accounting, managing data and keep records of your teammates r suitable for u.

Take care buddy, I hope these jobs finds u quite well.

Loads of love and support

Arshpreet Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear recommendation to seek work and address all three requested points: you explain that your friend feels lonely at college, describe the chance to meet people at work, and suggest accounting and data-related roles. These ideas are relevant, but they are brief and not fully developed; for example, you could explain more specifically why college would not suit your friend or how the suggested roles match their skills. The opening also focuses on asking after your friend rather than introducing your advice clearly. The response is five words below the required minimum, so it does not meet the task’s length requirement. Add a little more explanation and support for each point while keeping the friendly tone.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a recognisable structure, moving from a greeting to reasons against college, benefits of work, job suggestions, and a friendly closing. This overall arrangement makes the main message understandable. However, the links between ideas are sometimes mechanical: “Despite the distance” does not clearly connect to the point about having few friends, and “So I think” and “By this way” are awkward transitions. Some references are also unclear, such as “That really extremely helps you,” where the reader has to infer what “that” means. Use clearer links that show cause and result, and make each paragraph develop one point before moving to the next.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “college,” “job,” “accounting,” and “keep records.” The friendly expressions “Take care buddy” and “Loads of love and support” suit a personal letter. However, the range is limited, and several word choices or collocations sound unnatural or make the meaning less clear, such as “greet with new person,” “microsoft things,” and “quite knowledge.” Spelling and informal text forms, including “thier,” “prespective,” “r,” and “u,” also reduce accuracy and polish. Choose more precise phrases for skills and workplace interaction, and use standard spelling even in an informal letter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, and the reader can generally follow your recommendation. However, errors occur frequently in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction, sometimes making the message difficult to interpret. For example, “I've think” should be “I think” or “I've thought,” while “these jobs finds” needs a plural verb: “these jobs seem.” The phrase “the great reason for not enjoy to going college” also shows problems with article use and verb patterns; a clearer version would be “a good reason not to enjoy going to college.” Practise accurate basic sentence patterns first, then build longer sentences with reliable verb forms and punctuation.

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

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