You are going to another country to study. You would like to do a part-time job while you are studying, so you want to ask a friend who lives there for some help. Write a letter to this friend. In your letter: - give details of your study plans - explain why you want to get a part-time job - suggest how your friend could help you find a job
Sample Response
Dear Annie, Hope you are doing fine. My departure date for New Zealand is drawing near, and I am busy with last-minute preparations. As you know, I have enrolled at an institute called 'Practical English' in Wellington forWellington, for a full-time six-month advanced coursea six-month Advanced course, full-time. The course is quite expensiveIt is quite expensive but I hope to improveI am hopeful of improving my English skills, especially my pronunciationespecially pronunciation. To help coverTo assist in covering the costs of my studiesstudy, I planaim to find a part-time job. Not only are the college fees rather high, but also I know that rental accommodation in the capital city will not be cheap; to say nothing of food and heating expenses! I would therefore likeSo I would very much like to arrange some part-time worktemporary employment before my arrivalbefore I arrive. I was wondering if you could ask around among your friends and colleagues to see if anyone wants a house cleaner, gardener, or nanny for their children. I know you have a wide social network in Wellington which you could canvas for me if you wouldn't mind, I'd be so grateful. I look forward to seeing you soon. Best wishes, Juliana
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response’s strongest feature is complete and well-developed task fulfilment: it gives specific course plans, explains several financial reasons for working, and asks the friend to canvass a relevant local network for suitable jobs. Its main limitation is presentation and occasional sentence control, especially the one-block format and final comma splice. Prioritise clear paragraphing and tighter complex sentences while retaining the effective friendly detail.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter fully achieves its purpose, develops every bullet point with specific relevant detail, and makes a practical request in an appropriate friendly tone.
As a refinement, mention preferred working hours or availability around the full-time course to help the friend target suitable jobs.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas move logically from study plans to financial need and the requested help, but the lack of paragraphing and a run-on near the end weaken presentation.
Separate the study, reasons for working and requested help into three short paragraphs and split the final request from the expression of gratitude.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and generally precise, including “last-minute preparations,” “rental accommodation,” “temporary employment” and “social network,” with only occasional awkwardness.
Use “canvass” rather than “canvas” and streamline the job examples so the otherwise natural informal register remains consistent.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses a good range of complex structures with mostly accurate control, though the “not only” construction and final comma splice are noticeable lapses.
Parallel the correlative structure as “Not only are the fees high, but accommodation is also expensive,” and divide the final request into two sentences.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are going to another country to study. You would like to do a part-time job while you are studying, so you want to ask a friend who lives there for some help. Write a letter to this friend. In your letter:
- give details of your study plans
- explain why you want to get a part-time job
- suggest how your friend could help you find a job
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.