Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-24

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have seen an advertisement in an Australian magazine for someone to live with a family for six months and look after their six-year-old child.

Write a letter to the parents. In your letter

• explain why you would like the job
• give details of why you would be a suitable person to employ
• say how you would spend your free time while you are in Australia

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 seek employment opportunities. I recently came across your advertisement in which you are looking for someone to take care of your child.

Firstly, i believe i would be a good fit. This is because I love to be around children and play with them. In particular, i am father of the 10 year old son. As a result, i would be taking good care of your child.

Furthermore, I had lived in a joint family . Since I came to this country in search of employment, I was unable to meet them for around 2 years. I will be glad to stay with your family and spend time in taking care of your child.

I would therefore appreciate it if you could choose me for this position. I would be grateful if you could deal with this matter promptly.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Pal Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The letter addresses all three bullet points, but the development is uneven. You explain why you want the job and your suitability, but the third requirement—how you would spend your free time—is completely omitted. The prompt explicitly asks for this information, and its absence significantly impacts the task completion. While the tone is appropriate for a formal letter, the content needs to be more comprehensive to meet the requirements of the task. To improve, ensure you dedicate at least one full paragraph to each bullet point provided in the instructions to ensure all parts of the task are fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use basic cohesive devices like 'Firstly', 'Furthermore', and 'I would therefore appreciate it'. However, the progression of ideas is slightly disjointed, particularly in the second paragraph where the transition from loving children to being a father feels a bit abrupt. The use of referencing is generally clear, but the overall flow could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words and ensuring that each paragraph focuses on a single, well-developed idea. The paragraphing is appropriate for a formal letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is functional and allows you to communicate your message clearly, but it is somewhat limited and repetitive. Phrases like 'take care of your child' and 'good fit' are used, which are acceptable but basic. There is little attempt to use less common or more precise vocabulary related to childcare or professional experience. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more specific collocations and synonyms to avoid repetition. For example, instead of 'take care of', you could use 'supervise', 'nurture', or 'provide childcare'. The spelling is generally accurate throughout the text.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are several persistent grammatical errors. The most notable is the failure to capitalize the personal pronoun 'I' in several instances ('i believe', 'i am father'). Additionally, there are articles missing or misused, such as 'i am father of the 10 year old son' (should be 'a father of a 10-year-old son'). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your meaning, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall accuracy of the writing. Focusing on basic subject-verb agreement and article usage will help improve your score.

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

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