Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-21
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
A large company in your area has decided to spend a certain amount of money, either to sponsor a local children's sports team for two years, or to pay for two open-air concerts. It has asked for feedback from the general public.
Write a letter to the company. In your letter
- describe the benefits of sponsoring the sports team
- summarise the benefits of paying for the concerts
- say how you think the company should spend the money
You do NOT need to write any addresses.
Begin your letter as follows:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Student answer (Band 4.5)
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing this letter to request one week off from my diploma course because I want to visit my home for an important family matter. I am a full-time student of Diploma in masters administration at your college. My course is one year course. My classes are monday to friday and I always attend regular classes. I also complete all the assignments and presentations on the time.
Unfortunately, I need a week off for visiting my cousin's marriage at my home. Actually my cousin is really close to me and my family members suggest me to attend her wedding. I need to go there and my family need to go there for the wedding arrangements. So, I will need approximately one week leave from 10 october to 17 october.
I would be really appreciate if you could approve my leave. I will make sure to complete all the missed notes and assignments during my absence period. I would also really appreciate if you could inform to my class teachers about my leave. I will really thankful for your understanding.
I look forward to hearing from you a positive response.
Yours faithfully,
Crissa Chen
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 3.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0
The candidate has completely misunderstood the prompt and written a letter requesting time off from college for a family event instead of addressing the required General Training Task 1 prompt about a local company deciding whether to sponsor a sports team or pay for open-air concerts. Because the response is entirely off-topic and fails to cover any of the bullet points regarding the sponsorship, concerts, or a recommendation, it corresponds to Band 3.0 for Task Achievement. There is no attempt to address the specified scenario provided in the instructions, meaning the requirements of the task have not been met.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
Despite the severe task irrelevance, the letter has a clear overall structure with standard letter openings and closings, and appropriate paragraphing to separate different points. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Unfortunately,' 'Actually,' and 'So,' though some transitions feel a bit repetitive or basic. Paragraphs logically group related ideas, moving from the request and course details to the reason for leave, and finally to administrative details. This demonstrates a coherent arrangement that is better than the content score implies, fitting a Band 5.5 descriptor for Coherence and Cohesion.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for basic communication but is very limited and repetitive. The student uses standard phrases like 'full-time student,' 'important family matter,' and 'appreciation.' There are some word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'Diploma in masters administration' instead of 'Master's degree administration' or similar phrasing, and 'on the time' instead of 'on time.' Attempts at less common vocabulary are minimal, restricting the lexical score to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writing contains a mix of simple and moderately complex sentence forms, such as 'I am writing this letter to request...' and 'I would be really appreciate if you could approve my leave.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including tense/form slips like 'My course is one year course,' preposition errors ('on monday to friday'), and modal verb errors ('I would be really appreciate' and 'inform to my class teachers'). These errors cause some difficulty and distraction for the reader, placing the grammar performance in the Band 5.0 category.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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