You recently visited a place that had a strong impact on you. Write a letter to a friend about the place. In your letter: - explain where the place was and how you got there - describe what you saw - offer to take your friend there
Sample Response
Dear Sam,
I have just returned from my holidays in France and while we were there we climbed a mountain called ‘Parleman’ in the French Alps. We were able to drive half way up the mountain but then the road endedstopped. So we parked, put on our walking boots and began the long uphill climbstruggle.
Despite of the road at the beginning, it still took us a while to complete the climb but it was well worth the effort. When we got to the top of the mountain, the view was incredible. I could see across the town and lake on one sideright across the town and the lake to one side, and on the other side were the snow-covered peaks of Mont Blanc. It was simply breathtaking.
As you know, we often go to France foron our holidays and next time we plan a trip, I’d really like to take you there. I’m sure you would love the scenery and as you enjoy exercisingexercise, you would be able to enjoy all the mountain walkstake advantage of all the mountain walks.
I hope to hear from you soon. Best wishes, [Your name]you soon.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter fully covers the location, journey, scenery, and invitation in a warm, convincing tone, and its vivid vocabulary makes the experience engaging. The main weakness is one awkward and grammatically faulty contrast at the start of the second paragraph. The highest-priority improvement is to revise that sentence so the description remains precise and the otherwise smooth progression is uninterrupted.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully and naturally developed, and the friendly tone is consistently suitable for writing to a friend.
Add a brief informal closing and name to make the letter conventionally complete while preserving the natural invitation.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is clearly sequenced from the journey to the view and future invitation, with cohesive devices used naturally overall.
Clarify the opening link in the second paragraph so the contrast accurately connects the difficult climb with the rewarding view.
Lexical Resource
A wide and precise range, including ‘uphill struggle,’ ‘snow-covered peaks,’ and ‘breathtaking,’ creates a vivid and flexible description.
Replace the unclear phrase ‘Despite of the road at the beginning’ with precise wording such as ‘Despite driving part of the way.’
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of sentence structures is handled accurately, with only an isolated error in the ‘Despite of’ construction.
Use ‘despite’ directly with a noun or gerund, or use ‘although’ with a full clause, when forming concessive sentences.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently visited a place that had a strong impact on you. Write a letter to a friend about the place. In your letter:
- explain where the place was and how you got there
- describe what you saw
- offer to take your friend there
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.