Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-11-02

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 am writing this to complain about the incorrect information you publish on megazine.

last monday,I read national geographic traveler megazine and on the" whats new" page I saw a news about wolaita sodo.suddenly it attracts my attention and read the whole article.when I go through it I hesitate to believe my eyes it mistakely stated about the death of 4 civilians. Am witness this 4 individual passed away because of car accident which occur a week before. Though it was written on the article as if the death is due to ethnic group conflict. That is totally far from the truth.

Moreover, if this kind of information get spreaded it affects the wellbeing of the city in many ways.I would greatly appreciate if you could correct it by officially asking apology and also warn your employees to give more attention on this kind of issues before printing.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,kidist

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address the main purpose of the letter and identify the central error: the four deaths resulted from a car accident, not ethnic conflict. You also explain that inaccurate reporting can affect the city and ask the magazine to apologise and remind staff to check information. These points make the response relevant and cover the task. However, the importance of accuracy is only briefly explained, and the proposed response could be more specific—for example, correcting the article online and publishing a clarification in the next issue. The opening complaint and closing request establish a suitable purpose, but developing the consequences and remedies more fully would make the letter more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter follows a generally clear sequence: you introduce the complaint, describe the article’s error, explain its possible impact, and make a request before closing. This gives the reader an overall sense of progression. The contrast between the reported cause of death and the actual car accident is also easy to identify. However, most of the information is presented in one long paragraph, so the stages of the letter are not visually separated. Some links are awkward or unclear, such as “Moreover” introducing the importance of accurate reporting and “Though” beginning a sentence that does not complete the contrast smoothly. Use separate paragraphs for the correction, its significance, and your requested action, with more precise transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the situation, including “incorrect information,” “civilians,” “ethnic group conflict,” and “officially asking apology.” These choices help communicate the complaint and the seriousness of the error. There is some attempt to use more formal language, although several word choices, collocations, and spellings are inaccurate or unnatural, including “megazine,” “spreaded,” and “warn your employees.” “Wellbeing” is also rather general for the specific reputational and social consequences you mean. These errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main message, but they limit precision and naturalness. Check spelling carefully and learn common formal collocations for corrections, apologies, and fact-checking.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a time clause in “when I go through it” and a conditional idea about information spreading. The main facts remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur and occasionally make the relationships between ideas less clear. For example, “Am witness this 4 individual passed away” lacks a clear subject and has an incorrect verb pattern, while “it affects” does not agree with the plural subject “this kind of information” only if treated as singular; the surrounding conditional construction also needs a consistent verb form. There are also problems with tense, articles, and sentence boundaries. Practise complete clause structures and consistent past-tense reporting, then proofread punctuation and capitalisation.

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