Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-07

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 or Madam,

I hope you are doing well. I am Rushi Patel. I am from Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. I am a big fan of your magazine, I love to read your articles. It helps me to get more knowledge about different cities.

Recently, I was reading the magazine and I saw the article is about my town. The line I read 'The intresting fact about Sydney, Nova Scotia' I was 'over the moon'.

The reason writing this letter is, some of the information you mentioned was incorrect. Like 'more population with less opurtunity'. So, we do have a limited amount of people in the city. Not that crowded or too crowded. Wel, we do have a 'lot of oppurtunity', a lot of people getting 'new jobs' every day. Eventhough people are 'getting promotion' in this city too.

Spreading wrong information might question to the visiters, and to the people who are planning to change their town. So, the best what you can do is, you can write a new article amd post it again on social media, as well as on magazine too. Even you can try to 'ban' the current magazine too which will be helpfull to both of us.

Thank you

Rushi Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the three main requirements: you identify the article’s claims about population and opportunities as inaccurate, explain that misinformation could affect visitors and people considering moving, and recommend publishing a correction. However, the correction is not fully clear: “more population with less opportunity” is quoted without explaining precisely what the article said or giving a clear, factual comparison. Your description that Sydney is “not that crowded” and has many job opportunities is relevant, but remains general. The suggestion to publish a new article is useful, while banning the magazine is an unclear and disproportionate proposal. Develop the facts more specifically and explain how the magazine should correct or acknowledge the error to make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a recognisable structure, moving from an introduction to the inaccurate information, its possible effects, and a proposed response. Paragraph breaks help separate these stages, and linking expressions such as “Recently,” “So,” and “Even” show attempts to connect ideas. At times, however, the progression is weakened by unclear references and abrupt transitions. For example, “The line I read … I was ‘over the moon’” does not clearly explain the connection between the quotation and your reaction, and “Even you can try to ‘ban’ the current magazine” is not smoothly linked to the correction proposal. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each recommendation directly to the problem it addresses.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “population,” “opportunity,” “visitors,” “promotion,” and “social media,” so the reader can understand the general issue. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “more population,” “question to the visitors,” and “ban the current magazine.” Spelling errors, including “intresting,” “opurtunity,” and “helpfull,” also reduce accuracy. Aim for more precise expressions such as “a smaller population,” “mislead potential visitors,” and “publish a correction.” Check spelling carefully and choose phrases that fit a formal letter to an editor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You communicate the main message using simple sentences and make some attempts to combine ideas, for example, “Spreading wrong information might question to the visiters, and to the people who are planning to change their town.” However, sentence structures are often incomplete or inaccurately formed. “The line I read … I was ‘over the moon’” lacks a clear grammatical connection, while “The reason writing this letter is” is missing necessary words. There are also problems with sentence boundaries and punctuation, such as joining “I am a big fan of your magazine” and “I love to read your articles” with a comma. Practise complete clauses and use a wider range of accurately controlled sentence patterns.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.