Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-10

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You work for an international company. You have seen an advertisement for a training course which will be useful for your job.

Write a letter to your manager. In your letter

• describe the training course you want to do
• explain what the company could do to help you
• say how the course will be useful for your job

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 to inform you about my personal training course so that i can gain more knowledge in my work of field.

I like to attend the training course of "gene editing in CRISP" It is very crucial for me to attend that as I can manage to do my responsibilities in that field fluently. They are providing that course for 3-4 weeks and also i will get a certificate after completing that course. They are high professional in that area and giving the theoritical and practical advanced training. They have different session for every person according to their capabilities and knowledge in that area.

I would like to ask your permission to start that training as it related to my job as well and I want to be more perfect in the gene editing as i will study the RNA editing, their structures and many more.

Please be faith in me and grant my leave.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task. You described the course, explained how the company could help, and mentioned the relevance to your job. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For example, while you mention the company could help, you do not explicitly state what you need (e.g., financial support or time off). The tone is also slightly inconsistent; phrases like 'Please be faith in me' are not appropriate for a professional letter to a manager. To improve, ensure your requests are specific and your tone remains formal throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter follows a basic logical structure, but the paragraphing is ineffective. The entire body of the letter is contained in one large, dense paragraph, which makes it difficult to follow the transition between the course description and the request for support. Cohesive devices are used, but they are often repetitive or mechanical (e.g., 'They are...', 'They have...'). To reach a higher band, you should use clear paragraph breaks for each main point and vary your linking words to improve the flow between sentences.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and professional tone required for a formal business letter. You use some relevant technical terms like 'gene editing' and 'theoretical and practical', but there are errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'work of field' instead of 'field of work' and 'high professional' instead of 'highly professional'. Additionally, 'be faith in me' is an incorrect collocation. Expanding your range of professional vocabulary and focusing on accurate word combinations will help you achieve a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent errors that occasionally impede clarity. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('They is' implied, or 'They are providing'), article usage ('the training course of'), and awkward phrasing ('I can manage to do my responsibilities... fluently'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of lowercase 'i' and missing commas. To improve, focus on basic grammatical accuracy, such as capitalization and verb tense consistency, before attempting more complex structures.

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

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