You live in a university residence and have a problem with noise from a new campus restaurant that stays open until midnight. Write to the governor of the university. In your letter: - complain about the situation - explain why the noise is a problem - propose ways to reduce the noise
Sample Response
Dear Mr Oliver, I am writing this letter regarding the incessant noise that comes from the new canteen that has recently opened near my universityUniversity residence. Although I am delighted that we have this facility that offers tremendous benefits to students, the restaurant remains open up to midnight, and as a result, there is considerable talking, shouting, music, and the loud sound of motorbikes continuing until about 12:30 each night. This causes serious problems for me and my neighbours in the residencecauses me and my neighbours in the residence a serious quandary because at that time we are either trying to sleep, study or complete an assignment. The noise is so deafening that it is quite impossible to sleep. The noiseThe sound and the commotion disturb us and hamper our sleep at night, making us tired in the mornings or slowing our progress on our studies or assignmentsaffecting the progress of our studies or assignment. I am sure you will understandcomprehend that this is a very worrying situation for us all. To address this problemTo prevent further complications, I would like to suggest that the campus authorities restrict the canteen’s opening hours from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. I propose that the university also put upwe also put up some signs reminding users to be considerate and keep their noise to an absolute minimum. I hope you would take the initiative to implement these measures to protect residents from this disturbanceimplement them to save us from the nuisance. Thank you in advance for your attention to this important matter. Yours sincerely, Robert Blake
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter clearly communicates the complaint, develops the effects of late-night noise, and offers two practical remedies in an appropriately formal tone. Its main limitation is occasional imprecision and repetition, particularly around the effects on sleep and study and a few overstrong or awkward word choices; prioritise tightening these passages and using more exact, natural collocations while preserving the detailed task coverage.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The complaint is clear and all three bullet points are fully developed with relevant effects and two feasible noise-reduction proposals.
Strengthen the proposed action by requesting a specific response or implementation timeframe from the university governor.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter progresses logically from the source and impact of the noise to proposed solutions, although repetition and single-block paragraphing reduce clarity.
Divide the response into paragraphs for the complaint, its consequences, and the proposed remedies, while removing repeated points about sleep.
Lexical Resource
The response demonstrates a broad formal vocabulary, but a few choices such as quandary and deafening are imprecise or overstated in context.
Prefer exact collocations such as serious disruption, loud late-night noise, and academic progress rather than unnecessarily forceful wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentence forms are used with generally good control, though occasional parallelism, number, and modal errors remain noticeable.
Revise structures such as our studies or assignments and I hope you will take action to improve grammatical precision.
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
You live in a university residence and have a problem with noise from a new campus restaurant that stays open until midnight. Write to the governor of the university. In your letter:
- complain about the situation
- explain why the noise is a problem
- propose ways to reduce the noise
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.