A family member is coming to stay with you. He/she will be arriving by train in the morning, but you won’t be home until the evening. Write a letter to your relative. In your letter: - explain the arrangements you have made for him/her to get keys - tell your relative how to get from the train station to your house - say when you will be home and suggest what you could do together that evening
Sample Response
Dear Samir, I hope you are doing wellHope you are doing great. I cannot find the right wordsfitting words to express how excited I am to hear that you will be visiting me next week. I am reallyvery much looking forward to having you staylooking forward to having you and spending some quality time together. Unfortunately, on 7th June, the day of your arrival, I have an important meeting atin my office and I am expected to be thereexpected there early in the morning. I wish I could have been at the train station to receive you. However, do not worry;do not worry, I will leave the keys with my neighbourkeep the keys to my neighbour, George. He lives in the apartment opposite, B2,opposite apartment- B2 and will be expecting you around 9:30 amat around 9:30 am. Just tell him that you are my cousin Samir and he will hand the keys over to youhand over you the keys. From the train station, you can hail a taxi and give the driver my addressgive him my apartment's address. He will do the rest as the address is quite familiar to taxi drivers. The farerent should be anything between 15 andto 20 pounds. I will be back at 6.30 pm and will take you to dinner at one of my favourite restaurants. Afterwards, we can walk for a few minutes and meet Auntaunt Lucy who lives nearby. I have so many things to share with you and I plan to do many exciting things together, just like the days ofin our childhood! Wishing you a safe journey. Best wishes, James
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter warmly fulfils its purpose and gives the relative all the essential information about collecting the keys, reaching the apartment, and spending the evening together. The main weakness is a recurring set of unnatural word choices and grammatical constructions, even though meaning remains clear. Focus first on accurate everyday collocations and pronoun patterns so the friendly message sounds consistently natural.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are directly and sufficiently developed in a friendly register that suits a close relative.
Add one concrete backup instruction, such as how to contact the neighbour if arrival is delayed, to make the arrangements fully robust.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message follows a clear chronological sequence and uses linking expressions effectively, although the presentation lacks visible paragraph divisions.
Group the key collection, travel directions, and evening plans into separate paragraphs for easier navigation.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is varied and conveys warmth and practical detail, but several inaccurate collocations reduce naturalness.
Use idiomatic phrases such as leave the keys with my neighbour, meet you at the station, hand you the keys, and taxi fare.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a good variety of sentence forms, but errors in verb patterns, pronoun placement, articles, and punctuation recur.
Review object placement and time-consistent verb forms, especially in phrases about handing over the keys and wishing to meet the visitor.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A family member is coming to stay with you. He/she will be arriving by train in the morning, but you won’t be home until the evening. Write a letter to your relative. In your letter:
- explain the arrangements you have made for him/her to get keys
- tell your relative how to get from the train station to your house
- say when you will be home and suggest what you could do together that evening
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.