Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-08

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have just read an article in an international travel magazine which contained some information about your town that is incorrect.

Write a letter to the editor of the magazine. In your letter

• correct the information in the article
• explain why it is important for the magazine to give correct information
• suggest what the magazine should do about this situation

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Sir,

I am Aarish Bansal, oue of the readers of your international travel magazine.

While I was reading one of your latest releases, i found out while mentioning our town's famous areas, you missied some of the historic ones. Your press missed 2 forts and 1 ceremonial grave.

They hold great importance to both this town and the history of this country.I believe that tourists visiting this town should be able to witness the marvelous forts and get to know more about sacrifices of our ancesnstors.

I would like to reccomend that you should created a proper fact check department which updates you information about any travel place you write on.As for this, i beleive that adding a section which notifies readers about the mistake and a proper article letting people know about all the places to visit in the town.

Yorurs Sincererly,

Aarish Bansal

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed all three bullet points of the prompt: correcting the information, explaining the importance of accuracy, and suggesting a solution. However, the response is slightly under the 150-word minimum, which limits the depth of your development. While the ideas are relevant, they are somewhat brief. To improve, ensure you expand on your points—for example, by describing the historical significance of the forts in more detail or providing a more elaborate justification for why accuracy is vital for the magazine's reputation. The tone is appropriate for a letter to an editor, but the brevity prevents a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter follows a logical structure, moving from the purpose of the letter to the specific corrections and finally to the suggested actions. Paragraphing is present, though the transitions between ideas could be smoother. You use some cohesive devices like 'As for this' and 'While', but the flow is occasionally interrupted by short, choppy sentences. To improve, try to use a wider variety of linking words (e.g., 'consequently', 'furthermore', 'in light of this') to connect your sentences more naturally. The overall progression of ideas is clear, but the mechanical nature of the linking limits the score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to communicate your message clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'historic', 'ceremonial', and 'sacrifices'. However, there are several spelling errors, such as 'oue' (one), 'missied' (missed), 'reccomend' (recommend), and 'beleive' (believe). These errors are noticeable and detract from the professional tone required for a letter to an editor. To reach a higher band, focus on proofreading your work to eliminate these basic spelling mistakes and attempt to incorporate more sophisticated collocations related to journalism or travel writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'I believe that tourists visiting this town should be able to witness...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including punctuation issues (e.g., missing spaces after periods) and verb tense inconsistencies, such as 'you should created' instead of 'you should create'. These errors occur throughout the text. While they do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to affect the overall quality. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and ensure that modal verbs are followed by the correct verb form.

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

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