Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-28

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 apply for the position of looking after a child from an advertisement in an Australian magazine.

I am very much interested in this job because I recently completed my nursing course in one of the designated university and looking for the job I preferred this job it gives me experience in looking after child and helps my course for further experience.

I came from the joint family and knows how to handle and care the children, I am very good with my sister child I took care of her since birth. I love playing with them and teaching the morals values and ethics. I can also teach them how to behave and respect around elder people and also being friendly around other children.

I completed my course and done part time jobs in my free time in child care centre and an old age homes.I love helping people in need.

Yours Sincerly,

Alekya Paruchuri

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the prompt. You explained your motivation for the job, provided reasons for your suitability, and mentioned your background. However, the third bullet point—how you would spend your free time in Australia—is missing entirely from your response. This is a significant omission that prevents the letter from being fully complete. To improve, ensure you explicitly address every instruction provided in the prompt. While your ideas about your nursing background and childcare experience are relevant, they need to be expanded upon to fully satisfy the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into short paragraphs, which is appropriate for this task. However, the flow of ideas is somewhat disjointed. You use very few cohesive devices (linking words) to connect your sentences, making the writing feel like a list of statements rather than a cohesive letter. For example, the transition between your nursing course and your family background is abrupt. Using transition words like 'Furthermore,' 'In addition,' or 'Consequently' would help improve the logical progression of your ideas and make the text easier to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it is quite basic and repetitive. You rely on simple phrases like 'looking after' and 'I love'. There are also some awkward collocations, such as 'designated university' and 'sister child', which do not sound natural in English. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more precise terminology related to childcare and professional experience, such as 'supervision', 'developmental needs', or 'nurturing environment'. Expanding your range of vocabulary will help you express your suitability for the role more effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

Your writing contains several grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. There are issues with subject-verb agreement, such as 'I... knows how to handle' and 'I... done part time jobs'. Additionally, some sentences are run-on or lack proper punctuation, such as the second paragraph, which is a long, fragmented sentence. You rely mostly on simple sentence structures. To improve, focus on mastering basic verb tenses and subject-verb agreement. Incorporating a wider variety of complex sentence structures, such as using relative clauses or conditional sentences, would also help demonstrate better grammatical control.

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

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