You have a friend who lives in a city abroad. You would like to apply to do a course at one of the colleges in this city. Write to your friend. In your letter: - explain what you would like to do - describe the work or studies you have been doing for the past few years - ask for help contacting an appropriate institution
Sample Response
Dear Aparna, I hope you are doing wellHope you are doing great and enjoying your new job. I am writing to tell youwriting this letter to inform you that I am planning to take a course at a college in your city. I am hoping you can help me gethoping for your assistance in getting information about suitable coursesfurther information about the course. As you know, I have been working as a software engineer for the last four years. I thinkSo, I think this is the right time to pursue onework on one of my dreams: to earndreams - to acquire a management degree. I am planning to leave mythe job and apply for a part-time management course in Sydney. Though I have researched onlineinquired online for a few collegesa few of the colleges, could you please provideenlighten me with more informationa few more details about suitable colleges, course durations, and tuition fees for a management degreeabout the colleges, course duration, tuition fee regarding a management degree? I am hoping you canwould guide me in finding a suitable collegethe best college that offers a part-time management-related coursemanagement related course. I would be very gratefulreally grateful to you for your help. Looking forward to getting your reply. Warm wishes, Naaz
Why this response received Band 6.5
The letter clearly explains the plan to pursue a part-time management course and gives relevant context about four years of software-engineering work. Its tone is friendly and the purpose is easy to understand. The main limitation is the final request: it seeks general information and guidance but does not directly ask the friend to contact an institution. Prioritise requesting a specific call, email, or introduction to an appropriate college.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The study plan and work history are clearly covered, while the request for help is relevant but stops short of explicitly asking the friend to contact a college.
Ask the friend to contact one suitable institution or introduce the writer to its admissions office.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter moves logically from the course aim to employment background and requested assistance, though all content is compressed into one paragraph.
Use separate paragraphs for the study plan, recent work, and the specific help requested from the friend.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is adequate for courses and applications, but phrases such as ‘inquired online for colleges’ and ‘enlighten me with details’ are unnatural.
Use ‘researched colleges online’, ‘provide information’, ‘tuition fees’, ‘course duration’, and ‘contact the admissions office’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning is consistently clear, but article use, question structure, fragments, and noun modifiers contain recurring errors.
Rewrite the long question as a direct request and hyphenate compound modifiers such as ‘management-related course’.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have a friend who lives in a city abroad. You would like to apply to do a course at one of the colleges in this city. Write to your friend. In your letter:
- explain what you would like to do
- describe the work or studies you have been doing for the past few years
- ask for help contacting an appropriate institution
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.