Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-12

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You work for an international company, and would like to spend six months working in its head office in another country. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter

• explain why you want to work in the company's head office for six months
• say how your work could be done while you are away
• ask for his/her help in arranging it

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Manager,

I hope you are on clouds this week.

The purpose of my writing is about moving to the main office of "Amazon" company in Washington for the next six months to develop management skills.

I have been working as a labour job in this organisation for several years. Now, I want to boost my skills. Also, I believe these skills will help our company expand world wide.

I have also talked to my collegues and they gave me a green flag and asked to complete my work on my behalf, but if there will be any questions I will be always available to reply within a short period of time.

Moreover, you are good at managing transportation and apartments. If you can help me to set up there, it would be a great help. I am leaving next week on Friday.

Thanks for your precious time and support.

With regards,

Aman

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the three main points: you explain that you want to develop management skills, mention colleagues who could cover your work, and ask your manager to help arrange accommodation and transport. However, the reasons for choosing the head office and the practical work plan are only briefly explained. For example, “these skills will help our company expand” does not specify what you hope to learn there, while being “available to reply” leaves unclear how your regular duties will be completed. The statement that you are leaving next Friday also makes the request sound already decided rather than something requiring approval. Develop these points and make the request for permission explicit to make the letter more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter follows a generally sensible order: it introduces the proposed move, gives a reason, discusses work coverage, and then asks for practical help. Linking expressions such as “Also” and “Moreover” help signal the progression. However, the ideas are packed into a small number of paragraphs, and some connections are unclear. In particular, “they gave me a green flag and asked to complete my work on my behalf” makes it difficult to tell exactly what your colleagues agreed to do. The opening and closing are present, but a clearer paragraph break between your motivation, work arrangements, and request would improve readability. Use references and transitions that make the relationship between each point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant workplace vocabulary, including “management skills,” “organisation,” “expand,” and “available,” and the meaning is generally understandable. There are also attempts at more expressive phrases, such as “green flag” and “precious time,” but these are not natural choices in this formal request. “Labour job” is also unclear for describing your current role, and “main office” could be expressed more precisely as “head office.” Spelling errors such as “collegues” and “world wide” reduce accuracy. Aim for formal, precise collocations rather than idioms, and check spelling carefully. A wider range of accurate workplace and administrative terms would make the letter more effective.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mixture of simple sentences and longer structures, including the conditional request “If you can help me …, it would be a great help.” The main message remains understandable, but some sentence patterns are awkward or inaccurate. For example, “The purpose of my writing is about moving” is not a well-formed construction; “I am writing to request a six-month placement” would be clearer. In “if there will be any questions,” the future form does not fit naturally after “if,” and “I will be always available” has an awkward adverb position. The sentence about colleagues also combines several ideas without clear grammatical relationships. Practise accurate conditional forms and build longer sentences with clear clauses.

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