A local college wants people with a job to come and talk to students about what it is like to work. You would like to come forward and talk to the students about your job. Write a letter to the principal of the college. In your letter: - explain what you would like to talk about - say why students would be interested in your job - suggest a possible date and time for the talk
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writingwriting this letter in response to an advertisement that you recently published in a local newspaper, seeking employed professionalsseeking for job holders to volunteercome forward and talk to your students about what working life is likeabout how it feels to have a job. I think that it is quite an interesting proposition, and I would be more than happy to talk to your students. I would like to talk about the initial challenges I facedinitial challenges that I faced when I started my current job as a fitnessphysical instructor at a fitnessphysical training college. After all, the first few weeks in a new jobat a job can become really overwhelming for anybody. Besides, I would also like to talk about how I learned to keep young and restless people motivated in a tough working environment.
I am sure that your students would be interested in my job since it would allow them to remain healthy, both physically and mentally, without even doing anything extra outside of their regular jobs. I am free the entire day next Friday on 27th of September, and I would be excited and happy to stand in front of your students and share my experience with them. Yours faithfully, John Young
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter has a clear professional purpose, an appropriately respectful tone, and useful detail about both the proposed talk and the job's appeal. Its main limitation is that the scheduling remains broad: being free for the entire day gives a date but does not propose a definite time. Offer a specific start time and tighten a few awkward phrases, particularly "seeking for job holders."
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose and formal tone are clear, and all three bullet points are developed, although the suggested availability lacks a specific time.
Propose a definite time on 27 September, such as 10 a.m., while retaining the relevant detail about the talk and students' interest.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter progresses logically from its purpose through the proposed content, student appeal, and scheduling, with cohesive links used effectively.
Give the scheduling proposal its own short paragraph so each stage of the message is immediately visible.
Lexical Resource
A broad, generally precise range conveys professional experience and motivation effectively, with only occasional awkward collocations such as "seeking for job holders."
Use more idiomatic phrases such as "seeking employees" and "what working life is like" while preserving the varied vocabulary.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately, and the few grammatical slips do not impede communication.
Refine localised preposition choices, especially removing "for" after "seeking" and simplifying the date expression.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A local college wants people with a job to come and talk to students about what it is like to work. You would like to come forward and talk to the students about your job. Write a letter to the principal of the college. In your letter:
- explain what you would like to talk about
- say why students would be interested in your job
- suggest a possible date and time for the talk
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.