Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-12

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 writing you to provide some information about my town because in your article there are some things that not elucidates correct information.

Firstly, I would like you to look upon the location of library which is situated near the Gage park while article demonstrate this alongside the Drinkwater river.

Secondly, although the hospital and book shops are opposite to each other in the article, but it has to be away from where residents are living. However, they are near the residential area as mentioned in your article, these are also far from the police station.

Please note that the network coverage is not so good in this town, so strangers or tourists are mostly depended on the magazine or information provided by newspaper. I would appreciate if you could update these useful places as this will saves people time by help them to reach their desire destiny in time.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Manish

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The writer covers all parts of the task by correcting specific information about the town, explaining why accuracy is vital for tourists, and suggesting that the magazine update these locations. For example, the student points out that the library is situated near 'Gage park' rather than the 'Drinkwater river'. However, the explanation regarding the hospital and book shops is somewhat confusing and underdeveloped ('it has to be away from where residents are living'). While all three bullet points are addressed, the ideas would benefit from greater clarity and logical extension. Therefore, the response aligns best with Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear opening ('Dear Sir,') and closing ('Yours faithfully, Manish'). Paragraphing is utilised to separate distinct points, such as the corrections in the second and third paragraphs and the justification in the fourth. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen in the transition 'However, they are near the residential area as mentioned in your article, these are also far from the police station', which creates referencing confusion. Overall progression is somewhat hampered by awkward sentence transitions, placing this response solidly at Band 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'elucidates', 'residential area', and 'network coverage'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as writing 'not elucidates correct information' instead of 'does not provide correct information', and 'saves people time by help them' instead of 'helping'. The phrase 'desire destiny' is also a misuse of vocabulary for 'desired destination'. These errors indicate an adequate range with some persistent lexical inaccuracies, corresponding to Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional and relative clauses like 'I would appreciate if you could update these useful places as this will saves people time'. However, frequent grammatical errors impede fluency and accuracy, including subject-verb agreement issues ('this will saves', 'things that not elucidates') and missing articles or prepositions ('the location of library', 'near the Gage park'). While the meaning can generally be deciphered, the high density of basic grammatical slips keeps the score at Band 5.0.

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

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