You are a student at a language school in New Zealand studying Business English. Part of the course is a summer work placement program. Unfortunately, you have just learned from the school that this program has now been canceled. Write a letter to the School Principal. In your letter: - state your reason for writing - describe the problem and your concerns - explain what you would like the Principal to do.
Sample Response
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to express my seriousgrave concern over the cancellationclosure of the summer placement program which is one of the reasons I joinedone of the reasons to join your school.
I, Karamjeet Kaur, have been studying Business English atin your school. A huge amount of money has been paid by me for that course. So it has become essential for me to know whether the course has been temporarily closed for a couple of months or has it no longer been a part of Business English. Moreover, why it had not been intimated to me at the admission time.
Now, I am particularly concernedmore worried about my career. I will now be freewould be free for the next six months which I would otherwise have spent gainingwhich otherwise would have been used by me in getting hands-on experience in a reputed company as I was toldas it was told me. As a resultBesides, the time and the money that I havehad spent seem to have been wastedseem to me in vain.
I would like to receive a partial refund to compensate for the disruption caused by your decisionfor the loss that has been caused by your decision. I hope you will give prompt attention toI hope you would pay attention to this matter by considering these concernsthe above-mentioned reasons.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfullySincerely,
Why this response received Band 6.5
The letter has a clear formal purpose, covers the cancellation, its consequences, and the requested refund, and progresses logically. Its main limitation is recurring grammatical awkwardness, especially in indirect questions, passive constructions, and tense choices, which sometimes makes otherwise relevant points sound unnatural. The highest priority is to recast these sentences in direct, controlled structures while retaining the specific explanation of the financial and career impact.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is clear, all three bullet points are addressed, and the concerns and requested partial refund are relevant and adequately developed.
State more precisely whether you want the placement restored, an alternative placement arranged, or a refund, and give the principal a clear response deadline.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter is logically sequenced into purpose, background, consequences, and requested action, with generally effective paragraphing and linking.
Use fewer mechanical linking expressions such as 'Moreover' and 'Besides' and make the progression between the course change and its consequences more natural.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary shows sufficient range for a formal complaint, including expressions such as 'hands-on experience' and 'partial refund', though several collocations are awkward.
Prefer natural combinations such as 'one of my reasons for joining', 'informed at the time of admission', and 'the time and money will be wasted'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of sentence forms communicates the message clearly, but recurring errors in question structure, tense, articles, and passive phrasing reduce accuracy.
Practise embedding questions with statement word order and simplify heavy passives, for example 'Please tell me whether the programme is temporarily suspended or permanently cancelled'.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are a student at a language school in New Zealand studying Business English. Part of the course is a summer work placement program. Unfortunately, you have just learned from the school that this program has now been canceled. Write a letter to the School Principal. In your letter:
- state your reason for writing
- describe the problem and your concerns
- explain what you would like the Principal to do.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.