You have a full-time job and are also doing a part-time evening course. You now find that you cannot continue the course. Write a letter to the course tutor. In your letter: - describe the situation - explain why you cannot continue at this time - say what action you would like to take
Sample Response
Dear Mrs Rachel,Dear Mrs Rachel, I hope you are doing wellHope you are doing well. I am Raul Mitra, one of the students takingone of the students who are taking your part-time Oracle Database coursea part-time Oracle Database course with you. I am writing becauseAnyway, the reason I am writing this letter is to inform you that I will not be able to continue the coursethis part-time course, which I have really enjoyedwhich I really enjoy with you, for two reasonsfor a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I have been givenhanded a few additional responsibilities at my full-time job which means that I needwhich means that I would need to spend extra time at my office. If I spendAnd, if I spend additional time at my office, I am unlikelyit is highly unlikely that I will be able to arrive for classarrive at your class on time. The second reason is thatThe second reason, of course, is that after finishing workmy office work, when I actually arrive for classin your classroom, I feel too tireda bit too tired because I spend too much timebecause of spending too much time on the road due to heavy trafficthe bad traffic situation. Therefore, given this situationbased on my situation above, I would really appreciate it if you could allow me to defer the course to another sessiontake the course at another time if a place is availablewhen it is convenient for me, possibly from the June session. I would really appreciate your help regarding this. Yours faithfully, Raul Mitra
Why this response received Band 6.5
The letter covers the situation, explains both work pressure and commuting fatigue, and makes a clear request to continue in a later session. Its main weakness is presentation: the single paragraph, informal transitions, and several awkward grammatical and word-choice patterns reduce formality and precision. Prioritise a formally worded deferral request, then organise the reasons and requested action into clear paragraphs while tightening sentence structure.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter describes the full-time job and evening course situation, explains why continuing is difficult, and asks to take the course later. It would be stronger if the requested action were framed as a formal deferral or transfer to the June session.
Use a precise request such as defer my place to the June session and ask whether any form or approval is needed.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas progress logically from course details to work pressure, travel fatigue, and request, but the response is one paragraph and uses informal transitions such as Anyway, And, and of course.
Add paragraph breaks and use formal transitions to separate the situation, reasons, and requested action.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is adequate for the topic, but several phrases are wordy, informal, or unnatural, including really enjoy with you, arrive at your class, and based on my situation above.
Use concise course-related wording such as defer the course, attend class on time, workload, commute, and June session.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning is clear, but there are errors with sentence fragments, agreement, modal use, prepositions, and cause clauses.
Check each long sentence for a clear subject and verb, and revise agreement and preposition patterns.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have a full-time job and are also doing a part-time evening course. You now find that you cannot continue the course. Write a letter to the course tutor. In your letter:
- describe the situation
- explain why you cannot continue at this time
- say what action you would like to take
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.