Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-08

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 to inform you about a training course that I am interested to do.

Today, I saw an advertisement on LinkedIn about project management course offered by one of the most reputational university. The university opened only few slots to apply for this course and this course requires to be done in person.

I need your support to adjust my work timings so that I will be able to attend the whole course without missing any classes. I am also requesting you to sponser me the tution fee of the course

This course teaches me the skills that I require in my current role as a project lead which will add more value to our company.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Sai Palla

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The letter covers all three bullet points: describing the course, requesting support, and explaining the benefits. However, the response is significantly under the 150-word minimum, which limits the development of your ideas. For instance, the description of the course is quite brief, and the explanation of how the company can help is limited to two short sentences. To improve, you should expand on the specific modules of the course or provide more detail on how the company's sponsorship would be mutually beneficial. Because the response is under-length, it fails to fully develop the required points, leading to a lower score in this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter follows a logical structure with a clear opening and closing. Paragraphing is used to separate the different requirements of the task, which helps the reader navigate the content. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite limited. You rely on simple sentence structures and lack transition words or phrases to connect your ideas more fluidly (e.g., using 'furthermore' or 'consequently'). While the progression of ideas is clear, the lack of variety in linking words makes the writing feel somewhat mechanical. Increasing the use of cohesive devices will help improve the flow and logical progression of your arguments.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You have an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, such as 'reputational', 'sponser' (spelled incorrectly as 'sponser'), and 'tution' (spelled incorrectly as 'tution'). There are several spelling errors that detract from the overall quality. Additionally, some word choices are slightly unnatural, such as 'interested to do' instead of 'interested in doing'. To reach a higher band, you should focus on using more precise collocations and ensuring accurate spelling of professional terms. Expanding your vocabulary to include more specific business-related terminology would also enhance your writing and demonstrate a more flexible range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The letter uses a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. However, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'project management course' (missing an article), 'reputational university' (should be 'reputable'), and 'opened only few slots' (missing 'a'). These errors are frequent enough to be noticeable, though they do not prevent the reader from understanding your message. To improve, focus on article usage, subject-verb agreement, and consistent verb tense usage. Incorporating a wider variety of complex sentence structures, such as conditional sentences or relative clauses, would also help demonstrate better control over your grammar.

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

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