You have recently started work in a new company. Write a letter to an English-speaking friend. In your letter: - explain why you changed jobs - describe your new job - tell him/her your other news
Sample Response
Dear James, I hope this letter finds you and your family well. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to write to you for the last couple of monthscouldn't write to you for the last couple of months. I'm writing to let you know that I've recently changed jobs, and I love my new rolechanged my job, and I love the new job. As you know, I had been working for over a decade in the field of strategic planning for an automotive after-sales companyafter-sale automotive company. Unfortunately, my office relocatedshifted to another city last January. Afterwards, commutingtravelling to and from the office became very difficultbecame quite tough due to the distance and heavynotorious traffic congestion. I often had to spend more than 4 hours commuting, and I had barely any time for my family. Thus, I was forced to change my job. I accepted a positionI took a job with another company in the same industry, and so far I am enjoying the roleso far I love my job. It has better payremuneration, a more pleasant working environmenta more suitable environment and friendly management. I need less than 20 minuteshardly need 20 minutes to reach the office. Moreover, my new duties, which include managing a support team of 18 employees, is something I enjoy a lot becasue the team members are very pleasant and talented. By the way, I almost forgot:By the way, I almost forgot, my wife willwould be travelling to Canada to attend a seminar and she has asked meshe asked me to invite you to a family party next month. Please come and let's have a wonderful time togetherlet's enjoy our time together with fun and laughter. Take care. Warm wishes, Behzad
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter explains the lengthy commute convincingly, describes the advantages and responsibilities of the new role, and adds relevant family news in a friendly voice. Its main limitation is that the response is presented as one block and repeats the writer’s enjoyment of the job, with a few noticeable language slips. The priority is to use one paragraph for each bullet point and edit agreement, tense, spelling, and sentence boundaries.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully and relevantly developed, and the informal purpose and relationship with the friend remain clear throughout.
Make the final invitation slightly more specific by stating the party date or asking the friend to confirm attendance.
Coherence and Cohesion
The reasons, new role, and family news progress logically, but single-block formatting and repeated comments about loving the job reduce polish.
Give each bullet point its own paragraph and remove the repeated statement about enjoying the new job.
Lexical Resource
The response shows a good range of work, commuting, and social vocabulary, although a few choices are overly formal or imprecise for a friend.
Prefer natural phrases such as “after-sales automotive company,” “the office relocated,” “better pay,” and “a welcoming management team.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex forms is used successfully, with localized errors in agreement, future tense, spelling, and comma boundaries.
Correct “my duties are,” “because,” and “my wife will be travelling,” and separate the sentence beginning “By the way” correctly.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently started work in a new company. Write a letter to an English-speaking friend. In your letter:
- explain why you changed jobs
- describe your new job
- tell him/her your other news
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.