You are not happy with the course you are doing at college and would like to change to a different course. Write a letter to the Head of Department to change your course. In your letter explain: - what course you are doing now - why you are not satisfied with that course - what course you would like to change to
Sample Response
Dear Mr Mallik, I am writing to seekwriting this letter to seek your permission to change courseschange my major. I believe this will help me become more passionate about my studies and prepare for a future careerget ready to have a future career about which I have always felt very passionateabout which I have always felt very passionate about. I am hoping you willwould be kind enough to help me with this matter. I am Rathish Raveendran, a first-year bachelor's student majoring in civil engineeringa first-year bachelor of civil engineering major at your college. I have always wanted to be an architect, but duean architect but due to the unavailability of this course and peer pressure, I enrolled in civil engineering instead. Civil engineering is a great course, but Ia great course but I am more passionate about becomingfeel more strongly about becoming an architect. Now that the architecturearchitect department in our college has a few vacant seats, I would like to take this opportunity to pursuetake the opportunity and pursue my dream. I have spokentalked to the head of the architectural engineering department and he will approvegrant my admission to thathis department if you have no objectionsno objections regarding it. I look forward towill be eagerly waiting for your positive response. Yours sincerelyfaithfully, Rathish Raveendran
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter has a clear formal purpose and fully explains the current civil-engineering course, the longstanding preference for architecture, and the requested transfer. Relevant details about earlier course availability, peer pressure, vacant places, and provisional approval make the request convincing. Its main limitation is awkward or repetitive phrasing, especially around passion and departmental names; prioritise concise course terminology and a direct statement of the transfer sought.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are clearly and persuasively developed in a consistently appropriate formal tone.
Name the exact architecture course and requested transfer date so the department can act on the request immediately.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter moves logically from the request to the current course, reasons for dissatisfaction, preferred course, and supporting approval.
Divide the content into short paragraphs matching the three bullet points and remove repeated statements about passion.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied and formal, but some expressions such as ‘architect department’ and ‘grant my admission’ are imprecise.
Use ‘architecture programme’, ‘transfer’, ‘available places’, ‘approve my application’, and ‘career goal’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex structures are generally controlled, with occasional problems in noun phrases, prepositions, repetition, and conditional wording.
Revise the opening career sentence to remove the repeated preposition and simplify the final conditional request.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are not happy with the course you are doing at college and would like to change to a different course. Write a letter to the Head of Department to change your course. In your letter explain:
- what course you are doing now
- why you are not satisfied with that course
- what course you would like to change to
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.