Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-30
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
Write a letter to the local council. In your letter
- give details of how you and your friends or family use the centre
- explain why the sports and leisure centre is important for the local community
- describe the possible effects on local people if the centre closes
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 Ravinder Kaur, live near by the west minister local council in our town. I am writing this letter because i heard about the closure of the centre and i want to provide the information regarding how important is the centre to the local people.
My family and friends enjoy the facilities provides in the centre such as sports, swimming pool, children play area and other activities. We go to the recreational centre every day in the evening to relax and connect with people. It gives us spare time to enjoy the facilities as well as some spare time to relax after work.
Moreover, sports and leisure centre is a place for everyone person to connect with people who live nearby and way to get to know them because of work people are unable to meet each other. Futhermore, it is good place for children to play and for parents to relax. This is the only place the town where youngster to older people are welcomed.
If council decide to close the centre it will be worse affect on local people. They will lose a place to connect and meet others. Apart from that children and students will not get the chances to learn new sports activities.
Your Faithfully,
Ravinder Kaur
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
You have addressed all three bullet points required by the prompt. You clearly explained how you use the centre, why it is important for the community, and the negative effects of its potential closure. The ideas are relevant and the tone is appropriate for a formal letter to a council. To reach a higher band, you could expand on the specific activities you participate in or provide more detailed examples of how the community would suffer, rather than just stating that people will lose a place to meet. Overall, the response is well-focused and meets the requirements of the task.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The letter is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each focusing on a specific aspect of the prompt. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', and 'Apart from that' to link your ideas. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes a bit mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'the only place the town where youngster to older people are welcomed'. Improving the variety of your linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would help to elevate your score in this criterion.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your message clearly. You use relevant terms like 'recreational centre', 'facilities', and 'local community'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'worse affect' (should be 'worse effect') and 'every person' (should be 'every person' or 'everyone'). You also rely on some repetitive phrasing. To improve, try to incorporate more precise adjectives and nouns to describe the impact of the closure, and pay closer attention to word forms to ensure they are used correctly in context.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While your meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors throughout the text, such as 'I am Ravinder Kaur, live near by' (should be 'I am Ravinder Kaur, and I live near'), 'facilities provides' (should be 'facilities provided'), and 'youngster to older people' (should be 'youngsters to older people'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of commas. Increasing your control over basic sentence construction and subject-verb agreement will significantly improve your accuracy and help you achieve a higher band score.
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.