A friend of yours is thinking about applying for the same course that you did at university. He/She has asked for your advice about studying this subject. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: - give details of the course you took at the university - explain why you recommend the university - give some advice about how to apply
Sample Response
Dear Victor, I hope this letterHope this letter finds you in good health and spiritsspirit. I would also likeI sure also would like to thank you for trusting me with such an important matter. So, here is what I have to saywhat I've to say in response to your queries about the pharmacyPharmacy course at Monash University. I understand that you also want to pursue a bachelor'sbachelor degree in Pharmacy at Monash University, where I studiedfrom Monash University which I attended. As you knowBy the way, pharmacy is not an easy subject since it involves complex techniquesvery complex techniques and skills involved in preparingskills of preparing and dispensing medicines or drugs, and thus also helping to save livessaving human life also. Students studying for pharmacy degreesStudents attending pharmacy degrees will learn how different types of drugs affect the human body and mind and how they interact when mixed together.
Of course, the good thing is that the university you're consideringthe university, you're choosing, has some of the best pharmacy curriculasyllabuses, faculty members and laboratory facilities to teach you just what you need to succeed. So, just visit the university website at www.monash.edu to learn more about how to apply online, or just call the admission officer to ask him or her to send you the admission form and other necessary papers in the mail, if you want to proceed further. Take care. See you soon. Warm wishes,
Mitchel
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter gives friendly, relevant advice and addresses the course, the university's strengths, and practical ways to apply. Its main limitation is that several awkward constructions and punctuation choices reduce fluency, while the course description remains somewhat general. Prioritise more natural sentence structures and add specific details about the programme, such as its duration or key modules, to make the advice more convincing.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response maintains an appropriate friendly purpose and covers all three bullet points with relevant supporting detail.
Give more concrete course details, such as its duration, assessment methods, or particular modules, rather than focusing mainly on pharmacy in general.
Coherence and Cohesion
The advice follows a clear sequence and the main points are easy to follow, despite some overlong sentences and broad paragraphing.
Give each bullet point its own focused paragraph and shorten the final application sentence to improve readability.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is varied and topic-appropriate, but several collocations, including bachelor degree and pharmacy syllabuses, are not fully natural.
Use more idiomatic academic phrasing, such as bachelor's degree, pharmacy curriculum, and in good health and spirits.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses a useful range of structures, but recurring problems with sentence openings, contractions, articles, and commas reduce accuracy.
Revise awkward forms such as I've to say and remove unnecessary commas around defining clauses to produce cleaner sentences.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A friend of yours is thinking about applying for the same course that you did at university. He/She has asked for your advice about studying this subject. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
- give details of the course you took at the university
- explain why you recommend the university
- give some advice about how to apply
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.