Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-11-04

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 6.0)

Dear Manager,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to express my interest in working at the head office in Ontario, Canada for the next coming 6 months.

As you know this my 8th year working with this organisation, in the same office. The routine feels monotonous working with the same people since the past couple of years. I believe my learning has taken a seat back that is hindering my performance lately. Working at a new setting especially at the head office where there are more experienced people than me can actually help me grow professionally. Sasha could potentially cover for me while i will be gone. She has been shadowing me since the place 2 years and i think she is ready to cover for me while I'm not in the office.

I would be very grateful if you could suggest my name in the next board meeting as i heard they are exploring the idea of adding more people on their incredible team. I will be patiently waiting for your response.

Yours sincerely,

Mahnoor

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You explain your motivation clearly: after eight years in the same office, you want a new setting and the chance to learn from more experienced colleagues. You also address how your work could be covered by naming Sasha and noting her experience shadowing you. However, the coverage plan is brief and does not explain how responsibilities would be handed over or managed during your absence. The request for help is also indirect: asking your manager to “suggest my name” at a board meeting does not clearly ask them to arrange or support the six-month placement. Develop these points and make the requested action explicit so all parts of the task are addressed more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a clear overall shape: an opening purpose, a paragraph explaining your reasons and proposing cover, and a closing request. The ideas are generally easy to follow, and phrases such as “As you know” and “I would be very grateful” help connect the message to its reader. Some links and references are less clear, however. The sentence about Sasha combines her shadowing experience with the proposed cover without explaining the transition, and “as I heard” introduces the board-meeting point rather abruptly. Separate the reasons, practical arrangements, and request more distinctly, and use clearer transitions to show how each point relates to the next.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for a workplace letter, including “head office,” “monotonous,” “professionally,” and “shadowing.” These choices communicate your main ideas, and the tone is mostly appropriate. Some expressions are imprecise or unnatural, such as “my learning has taken a seat back,” “the next coming 6 months,” and “incredible team.” “Same office” and “new setting” also repeat a fairly general idea rather than describing the professional opportunity precisely. Aim for more natural collocations and specific workplace language, for example describing how the placement would broaden your experience or support your development. This would make the message more fluent and professional.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including the relative clause in “where there are more experienced people than me” and the conditional idea that Sasha could cover your duties. Most sentences remain understandable, but some grammatical errors and punctuation issues are present. For example, “As you know this my 8th year” needs a verb (“this is my eighth year”), while “since the place 2 years” appears to need “for the past two years.” In “while I will be gone,” the future form is unnecessary after “while”; “while I am away” is more natural. Check sentence boundaries and capitalisation, including “I” and the comma after introductory phrases, to improve accuracy.

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