You recently went to a concert and thought one of the singers was very good. You want to tell him/her how you feel. Write a letter to the singer. In your letter: - say how you feel about his/her performance - give details of your music-related/musical activities - explain how you would like him/her to help you with your music-related/musical activities
Sample Response
Dear Amy Horner, I am a huge fan of your music and am writingI am a huge fan of your music and writing to congratulate you on a brilliant performance at the City Emporium yesterday evening, whichyesterday evening which I am sure everyone thoroughly enjoyedenjoyed to the fullest. It was simply breathtaking and electrifying for my friends and meelectrifying to me and my friends, who were also present at the concert. I have always dreamt of seeing you perform liveseeing your performance live and yesterday was one of the best days of my life to have the chance for the first time. I am an aspiring musician, and I started playing the electric guitar and drums at the age of nineat a very tender age of 9. I can also play the flute and composebesides composing a few songs for the band I play withthe band I am involved in. In fact, I have been a member of a local music band called "Window of Dreams" for the last six years, and we primarily playfocus on playing pop and rock music. You have always been my idol as a musician and songwriter. I am sure you are extremelyterribly busy, but I am really hoping that you couldwould share some tips and provide mentorshipprovide some mentorship to help me develop as a musiciando better in music. I would really appreciate it if you couldcan spare some of your precious time to guide me which will eventually be a great help for me to further enhance my skills and boost my confidence. Thank you very much for your contributions to the music world. Yours sincerely, Emily Knight
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter communicates genuine enthusiasm, gives substantial detail about the writer's musical experience, and makes a respectful request for guidance. Its main limitation is that the help requested is rather general, while several sentences contain awkward or overly elaborate phrasing. The highest priority is to ask for specific advice connected to the stated band activities and then streamline the longer sentences for greater precision.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose and all three bullet points are fully developed in a respectful tone, with relevant detail about the performance and the writer's musical background.
Make the request even more purposeful by identifying a specific area, such as songwriting, rehearsal technique, or live performance, on which guidance is sought.
Coherence and Cohesion
The content follows a clear progression from praise to musical experience and then mentorship, with strong overall unity despite some lengthy sentences.
Use clear paragraph breaks for the three communicative stages and split the longest request sentence to sharpen progression.
Lexical Resource
A broad and expressive vocabulary conveys enthusiasm and musical experience, although some phrases are clichéd, redundant, or slightly unnatural.
Replace expressions such as 'very tender age of 9', 'precious time', and 'further enhance' with more concise, idiomatic wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex forms are used frequently and meaning remains clear, but several construction errors and awkward clause links prevent consistently precise control.
Correct omitted auxiliaries and loose relative clauses, for example 'I am writing' and 'guidance that would help me improve my skills'.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently went to a concert and thought one of the singers was very good. You want to tell him/her how you feel. Write a letter to the singer. In your letter:
- say how you feel about his/her performance
- give details of your music-related/musical activities
- explain how you would like him/her to help you with your music-related/musical activities
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.