You are studying English at a private language school attended by many international students. You are planning a surprise birthday party for a friend who has been feeling particularly sad and homesick. Write to another classmate and invite him/her to the party. In your letter: - explain the reason for the party - give the date and time of the party - suggest what the classmate could bring to the party
Sample Response
Dear Tim, How are you? I hope you're enjoyingHope you're enjoying the English lessons at the language school. Anyway, not sure if you're aware of it, but our friend and classmateour good classmate, Robin, from Turkey is turning 19is going to have his 19th birthday next Friday, 25 Septembernext Friday, which falls on the 25th of September, and I've planned a surprise birthday partymade a plan to make it a surprise birthday party just after our English language class. By the way, as you may have noticedin case you haven’t noticed, currently, Robin is going through a rough time since he is feeling a bit more homesick than usual. Besides, he's also struggling a lot to get used to the local culturethis new culture of a foreign country. On top of that, the news of his little sister’s sickness has also made him depressed. In this kind of situation, giving him a big surprise on his birthday would certainly cheer him up. Anyway, I already have a plan about who should bring what to the party. Timothy and Kelly should bring a specially made flower caketheir specially-made flower cake while Johnson should bring his guitar to play his special tune. As for you and me, we will bring the candles to decorate the cake and the banners to decorate the room. Let's have a great party to cheer Robin up! Warm wishes, Justin
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter fully explains the surprise, gives a clear date and time, and makes a practical suggestion about what the recipient can bring, while maintaining a warm, appropriate tone. Its main limitation is presentation: the whole message is compressed into one paragraph and several transitions are repetitive. Dividing the content into purposeful paragraphs would make the invitation more polished and easier to follow.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly fulfils its purpose, covers all three bullet points, and develops the reason for the party in an appropriately friendly tone.
Make the request to Tim even more direct by stating precisely which item he alone should bring.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas progress logically from the invitation and its reason to the practical arrangements, but one-block presentation and repeated linking phrases weaken cohesion.
Use separate paragraphs for the invitation, Robin's situation, and the party arrangements, with fewer repetitions of phrases such as 'Anyway' and 'By the way'.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a good range of natural informal vocabulary, including precise expressions for Robin's feelings and the party preparations.
Replace slightly awkward combinations such as 'the new culture of a foreign country' and 'play his special tune' with more idiomatic wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A varied range of simple and complex structures is used with strong control, and the few informal fragments do not impede meaning.
Turn the abbreviated opening phrases into complete sentences and check punctuation around the longer clauses for greater precision.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are studying English at a private language school attended by many international students. You are planning a surprise birthday party for a friend who has been feeling particularly sad and homesick. Write to another classmate and invite him/her to the party. In your letter:
- explain the reason for the party
- give the date and time of the party
- suggest what the classmate could bring to the party
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.