A friend has written a letter informing you about his or her plan to visit your country/city. Write a letter to him/her. In your letter write: - what he or she can do in your country/city advise him/her about the place he/she could stay at - suggest to him/her - what to pack and bring while coming to travel to your country/city
Sample Response
Dear Norton, I'm so delighted to receive your letter and am writing backand writing back to say that I'm thrilledfascinated to have you in my country in a few days. I can't wait to meetreceive you at the airport! I guess this is your first visitfirst-time visit to Italy, and I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay and go home with wonderful memoriestake back some excellent memories. Once you finish your work commitmentsofficial tasks in Rome, you can spend a day or two there to enjoy the capital city, especially the Colosseum, Castel Sant'Angelo, St. Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. You can stay at the Hotel Palladium Palace if your accommodation is not already arranged by your office. Then fly directly to Lucca, the city where I livethe city I'm residing in. Give me a call before your flight lands in Luccabefore you reach the airport, and I'll be there. I would like you to stay at my place as long as you wish. If you'd prefer a hotelIf you insist on staying at a hotel, you can try Villa Corte Degli Dei or Hotel Napoleon. We will try the local foodenjoy local food, watch a movie and go boating. We can enjoy the beautiful sceneryenjoy scenic beauty every evening. I'd recommend bringingrecommend you to bring some warm clothes as the winter is approachingwinter is setting in. Do not forget to bring your camera to capture the beauty of the rivers and historic streetstraditional street views. Also, bring any medication you needany medicines you take. Looking forward to having you in my city soon. Warm wishes, Marco
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response is warm, purposeful and rich in practical recommendations, covering sightseeing, accommodation and packing with specific local detail. Its main weakness is presentation: the entire letter is compressed into one block and a handful of collocations sound unnatural; the priority is to divide the content by bullet point and polish verb patterns so the friendly advice is easier to scan.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The task is addressed with relevant content, but key details or reasoning need fuller precision.
Develop the main features or claims with exact, verifiable support.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has a clear overall structure, though local progression can be more precise.
Use explicit, economical sequencing and remove repetition.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficient for the task, but several collocations or word choices are inaccurate.
Replace awkward combinations with standard academic or task-specific phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of forms is attempted, but recurring grammar errors reduce accuracy.
Proofread agreement, articles, prepositions and clause structure.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A friend has written a letter informing you about his or her plan to visit your country/city. Write a letter to him/her. In your letter write:
- what he or she can do in your country/city advise him/her about the place he/she could stay at
- suggest to him/her
- what to pack and bring while coming to travel to your country/city
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.