You are interested in applying for a scholarship program to study at a foreign university. Write a letter to inquire about the course. In your letter: - explain which course you are interested in - say what you know about the university - explain why you should receive the scholarship
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to inquirewriting this letter to inquire about a scholarship program that your university offers to foreign students. I have completedalready finished my bachelor’s degree in Economics, and now I wishwant to pursue a master’s degree in the same subject. I have already learned quite a lot about your university by reading the information on its websiteeverything on its website. Needless to say, I like everything about your university which includes very modern and well-equipped classrooms, a universal curriculum, affordable hostel accommodation, and highly qualified and experienced professors and lecturers. However, what I find the most impressive about your university is its very high graduate employment ratecampus placement rate which is about 75 per cent. I know it is not easy to get a scholarship at your university, but I think that my strong results in my bachelor's degreegood grades in bachelor degree (GPA 3.90 out of 4) and a high TOEFL scorea high score in TOEFL (623 out of 677) would make me eligible to receive a scholarship in my subject. I look forward to hearing whether I am eligiblehearing your response on my eligibility to receive a scholarship at your university. Yours faithfully, Kishor Gupta
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter has a clear formal purpose and covers all three requested points with relevant details about the course, university, and academic credentials. Its main limitation is presentation: the entire response is compressed into one paragraph, while some wording is repetitive or slightly unnatural. The highest-priority improvement is to organise the purpose, university knowledge, and scholarship case into distinct paragraphs and make the course inquiry more explicit.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly states its purpose, identifies the intended degree, describes known university features, and supports the scholarship request with specific qualifications.
Ask one or two direct questions about the course or scholarship arrangements so the inquiry function is fully realised.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information follows a logical sequence and linking is generally clear, but the single-paragraph format weakens the letter's organisation.
Divide the response into short functional paragraphs for the purpose, university knowledge, scholarship case, and closing request.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and suitably formal, with precise items such as 'campus placement rate' and 'eligible', despite repetition and a few awkward collocations.
Replace repeated uses of 'university' and refine imprecise phrases such as 'universal curriculum' with more natural alternatives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A good range of complex structures is used with generally strong control, although a few article, possessive, and preposition errors remain.
Proofread noun phrases and dependent prepositions, especially 'my bachelor's degree' and 'a response regarding my eligibility'.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are interested in applying for a scholarship program to study at a foreign university. Write a letter to inquire about the course. In your letter:
- explain which course you are interested in
- say what you know about the university
- explain why you should receive the scholarship
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.