You are studying overseas. You need to return to your country before the end of the semester for a family event. Write a letter to your supervisor. In your letter: - request some time off - explain why you need to leave early - reassure him/her that your studies will not suffer
Sample Response
Dear Mr Joseph, I am a student at your university and my major is finance. I need to return to my home countryvisit my home country owing to my sister's weddingmarriage ceremony on 2222nd November 2025. I hope that you will permit meI am hoping that you would permit me to take a week's leave from 17th to 23rd November. Inevitably, being the only brother of the bride-to-be, shopping and some important rituals are to be taken care of by me and therefore my family members and relatives are expecting me to arrive a little earlier. I am quite aware that I have my semester exams on 15th December and I assure you that my travel would in no way affectwould no way affect my studies. In fact, I have studied all my subjectsprepared all the subjects well in advance so that I can perform wellso I could succeed in the examinationsassessment tests with good scores. I would be grateful if you could approve my leave and wish my sister welland pray for my sister. Looking forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Nivetha Roy
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter’s strongest feature is its complete coverage of the leave request, the wedding responsibilities, and concrete reassurance about the forthcoming examinations. Its main limitation is presentation: the entire message is compressed into one paragraph, and several formal phrases are awkward or slightly overpersonal for a supervisor. Prioritise separating the request, explanation, and study plan, while using direct professional wording and replacing the request that the supervisor pray for the sister.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The leave dates, family reason, early-arrival duties, and study reassurance are all clearly and sufficiently developed in an appropriate request.
Keep the closing focused on approval and remove the personal request that the supervisor pray for the writer’s sister.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information follows a logical sequence from request to reason and reassurance, but the lack of paragraph breaks weakens readability.
Use separate paragraphs for the leave request, the wedding responsibilities, and the examination preparation.
Lexical Resource
A sufficiently broad formal range communicates the request well, though phrases such as ‘marriage ceremony’, ‘would no way affect’, and ‘succeed in the assessment tests’ are awkward.
Use natural wording such as ‘wedding’, ‘would not affect my studies’, and ‘perform well in my examinations’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses varied complex structures with generally good control, despite occasional modal, clause, and sentence-fragment errors.
Write ‘I hope you will permit’, ‘would not affect’, and a complete closing sentence such as ‘I look forward to hearing from you’.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are studying overseas. You need to return to your country before the end of the semester for a family event. Write a letter to your supervisor. In your letter:
- request some time off
- explain why you need to leave early
- reassure him/her that your studies will not suffer
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.