You are planning a holiday abroad and will be visiting a town where an old friend lives. You haven't spoken to this friend in a few years. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - give your friend a brief update of your life since you were last in touch - explain why you will be travelling to his/her town. - say what you plan to do - when you visit their town.
Sample Response
Dear Ellen, I’m writingI’m just writing to let you know that I’m visitinggoing to be visiting Edinburgh in a few monthsa few months’ time. So much has happened since I last wrote, sowrote so I'll bring you up to datequickly bring you up to date before telling you about the trip. The big news is that Jamie and I are finally engagedhave finally got engaged. He even got down on one knee to propose, whichpropose which was so romantic. The wedding is planned for June next year, andnext year and we reallydo hope you can come. We've also bought a flat and movedWe've also bought a flat and we moved in together last month. The holiday we’ve booked is a two-week coach tour of Scotland. We’ll spend most of our timeWe’re spending most of the time on the west coast and in the Highlands, butHighlands but we also will have a full dayget a full day in Edinburgh on 12th May. The trip includes a guided tour of Edinburgh Castle in the morning, butmorning but we’re then free for the rest of the day. It would be fantastic to catch up with you if you’re able to meet us for tea somewhere. Let me know if you can make it. I really hope to see you soon. All the best, Jacky
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter fully addresses the situation in a natural, engaging voice, with specific life updates and clear travel and meeting plans supported by flexible, accurate language. Its main weakness is presentation: the entire response, including the greeting and sign-off, appears as one continuous paragraph, which obscures the otherwise strong progression. Dividing the content into conventional letter paragraphs is the most important improvement.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response fulfills the communicative purpose, develops every requested point, and maintains a consistently suitable informal tone.
Refine the proposed meeting by suggesting a possible time or place after the castle tour.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas follow a clear chronological and thematic sequence, but the lack of paragraph breaks weakens the letter's organization.
Separate the update, travel explanation, Edinburgh plans, and invitation into distinct, logically focused paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
A broad, natural vocabulary conveys personal news and itinerary details precisely without sounding forced.
Maintain this flexibility while varying a few repeated references to the trip and the day in Edinburgh.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex and compound sentences are handled confidently, and the response is almost entirely error-free.
Polish minor punctuation around embedded clauses to make already clear sentences even easier to read.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are planning a holiday abroad and will be visiting a town where an old friend lives. You haven't spoken to this friend in a few years. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- give your friend a brief update of your life since you were last in touch
- explain why you will be travelling to his/her town.
- say what you plan to do
- when you visit their town.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.