You are studying for a qualification, and you would like some time off from your work to complete it. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter: - ask for some time off to complete the qualification - suggest what you will do later at work if you have time off - say how the qualification will help your job or company
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to request ten days of leaveseek your approval to take 10 days off work in order to complete my final examinations and thesiscomplete my term final and thesis paper for my MBA course. I would be grateful if you could allow meI am hoping that you would allow me to take leavetake the time off work from 8th November 2025 to 17th November 2025. I am pursuing an MBA at the University of Edinburghpursuing my MBA degree from Edinburgh University and to complete the programmeto complete it, I need to submit my thesis paper by 15th November and sit several examinationstake a few exams. I have ten days of paid annual leave10 days of paid annual leaves and I have reserved this leave for my final examinationssaved those for my term final. Now I am hoping to use this leavethose leaves and finish my MBA. While I am away from the officeDespite my leave from the office, I will check my emails daily, respond to urgent messagesimportant ones and be available for emergency phone calls. Besides, I have already spokentalked to James and he is ready to take some of my key responsibilitiesa few important responsibilities of mine in the meantime. Once I get back to the office, I would endeavour to come earlier than usual and work on weekends, if needed, in order to catch up on anything I had missed. I realise my temporary absence could be an inconvenience to the office but in the long run, our company will benefit from my knowledge and thesis activity which involves an empirical investigation into the impact of leadership on organisational performance. Since our company is considering a few training sessions for the team to enhance the leadership quality, my expertise could be useful. I am looking forward to receiving your approval for the leave. Yours faithfully, David Ferrer
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fulfils the request very thoroughly, using specific dates, practical cover arrangements, and a convincing explanation of how the qualification could benefit the company. Its main weakness is presentation: the entire response appears as one continuous paragraph, which obscures an otherwise clear progression, and a few collocations are unnatural. The priority is to divide the letter into purposeful paragraphs and refine expressions concerning leave and professional development.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are fully developed in an appropriately formal tone, with specific and persuasive supporting detail.
Make the benefit to the manager's team even more immediate by stating one concrete way the new leadership knowledge would be applied after returning.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information progresses logically from the leave request to cover arrangements and company benefits, but the absence of paragraph breaks weakens organisation.
Use separate paragraphs for the request and dates, arrangements during and after the absence, and the qualification's value to the company.
Lexical Resource
The response demonstrates a broad formal and professional vocabulary, although several expressions are awkward or incorrectly collocated.
Use natural forms such as annual leave, final examinations, thesis research, and leadership skills instead of annual leaves, term final, thesis activity, and leadership quality.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is used with generally strong control, though a few tense, article, and punctuation choices need refinement.
Review time relationships and use anything I miss rather than anything I had missed when describing future catch-up work.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are studying for a qualification, and you would like some time off from your work to complete it. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter:
- ask for some time off to complete the qualification
- suggest what you will do later at work if you have time off
- say how the qualification will help your job or company
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.