Band 8.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 8.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-24

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

During a recent plane journey, you sat next to a businessman who owns a chain of restaurants. You talked to him and he suggested that you should contact him about a possible job in one of his restaurants.

Write a letter to this businessman. In your letter

• remind him when and where you met
• tell him what kind of job you are interested in
• say why you think you would be suitable for the job

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ................. ,

Student answer (Band 8.0)

Dear Mr. Sterling,

I am writing to follow up on our conversation during our flight from London to New York last Tuesday, August 28th. We sat next to each other in row 12, and you kindly suggested that I should contact you regarding potential employment opportunities within your prominent restaurant chain.

I am highly interested in applying for a position as an assistant restaurant manager at your flagship downtown location. Given my professional background, I believe this role would align perfectly with both my career aspirations and your company's high operational standards.

I am confident in my suitability for this role due to my three years of experience supervising staff at a busy metropolitan bistro. During that tenure, I successfully optimized inventory management and enhanced customer satisfaction rates by fifteen percent. Furthermore, my robust leadership abilities and strong work ethic enable me to consistently maintaining an exceptional dining experience.

Thank you for your time and encouragement during our journey. I welcome the opportunity to discuss how my qualifications can benefit your establishment.

Your sincerely,

Aesha Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 8.5

The response fully addresses all three bullet points in the prompt. You clearly identified the context of the meeting (flight from London to New York), specified the desired role (assistant restaurant manager), and provided a strong justification for your suitability by highlighting your previous experience and specific achievements. The tone is consistently professional and appropriate for a formal business letter. The ideas are well-developed and the purpose of the letter is clear from the outset, meeting all requirements of the task effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 8.5

The letter is logically organized with a clear progression of ideas. Each paragraph serves a distinct purpose, moving from the introduction to the specific request and finally to the justification of your skills. Cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'Given my professional background', and 'During that tenure' are used effectively to link sentences and ideas. The paragraphing is appropriate, and the flow of information is smooth, making the letter easy to follow and professional in its presentation.

Lexical Resource — Band 8.0

You demonstrate a wide and precise range of vocabulary appropriate for a professional context. Phrases such as 'potential employment opportunities', 'flagship downtown location', 'operational standards', and 'optimized inventory management' show a high level of lexical control. The word choices are natural and sophisticated, contributing to the overall professional tone of the letter. There are no errors in word choice or collocation, and the vocabulary is used with flexibility and precision throughout the response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5

The writing exhibits a wide range of complex structures with high accuracy. You use a variety of sentence types, including subordinate clauses and participial phrases, effectively. There is one minor grammatical slip in the third paragraph: 'enable me to consistently maintaining' should be 'enable me to consistently maintain'. Aside from this rare error, the majority of sentences are error-free, and your control over punctuation and tense usage is excellent. The grammar supports the professional tone perfectly.

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

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