Write a letter to the Information Officer at the TAPE Information Office about the Tertiary Preparation Certificate. In your letter: - ask for information about the certificate - describe your educational background - explain why you want to do the course
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writingwriting this letter to request the necessary information about the Tertiary Preparation Certificate programme offeredprogramme that is offered through TAPEat your university. I would like to mention thatFor your kind information, I am planning to takepursue the course next termin the next term. As far as my educational backgroundprevious educational qualifications are concerned, I completed my high school certificatehave finished my higher school certification about eight8 years ago, after completing 12 years of schooling in Indiaschooling, in India with a GPA of 3.75. Later on, I also completed a bachelor’s degreefinished my Bachelor degree in science before starting my career as a nutrition specialistNutrition Expert at a leading snack manufacturing company in my country. In addition,By the way, I majored in sciencemy major was science, and I studied physics, mathematics, chemistry, zoology and English among other subjects. Currently, I am planning to get admission to a renowned engineeringEngineering university in Australia in order to pursue a postgraduatepost-graduate education because I am convinced that this tertiary preparation programme would help me further my career. Therefore, I would really appreciate it if you couldplease send me all the necessary information regarding the admission procedure, course duration and tuition fees at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your consideration. Yours faithfully, Mousumi Ahona
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter fully addresses the request by giving a detailed educational background, a clear reason for taking the programme, and specific questions about admission, duration, and fees. Its main limitation is occasional unnatural or overly conversational phrasing within an otherwise formal register; the highest-priority improvement is to organise the three purposes into distinct paragraphs and phrase the final request more directly and naturally.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all three bullet points are fully developed, and the formal tone is sustained with only minor lapses.
Refine the request by asking explicitly whether the certificate meets the entry requirements for the intended postgraduate engineering course.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas follow a sensible sequence from purpose to background, motivation, and requested information, but the continuous paragraph reduces visual clarity.
Use separate paragraphs for educational background, reasons for applying, and the specific information requested.
Lexical Resource
The letter uses a flexible range of education and career vocabulary, though phrases such as "For your kind information" and "By the way" are not fully natural in this formal context.
Replace those expressions with direct formal transitions such as "Regarding my educational background" and "In addition."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A variety of complex sentences is handled well, with occasional errors in forms such as "Bachelor degree" and the request clause "if you please send me."
Use standard forms such as "bachelor's degree" and "I would appreciate it if you could send me the relevant information."
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Write a letter to the Information Officer at the TAPE Information Office about the Tertiary Preparation Certificate. In your letter:
- ask for information about the certificate
- describe your educational background
- explain why you want to do the course
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.