You recently visited a place that had a strong impact on you. Now you want to write to your friend about the place. Write a letter to a friend about the place. In your letter: - explain where the place was and how you got there - describe what you saw - offer to take your friend there
Sample Response
Dear Rahul, Last week I took a fabulous trip to Mysorewent to Mysore on a fabulous trip. The local tourist centre suggested that I visitsuggested that I should visit the Tipu Sultan’s royal palaceroyal palace of Tipu Sultan, the Nizam of Karnataka in the 16th century. The palace was a gemThe place was a jewel and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would like to take you there next time. On the day of my visit, coincidentallycoincidently it was the festivalit was also the festival of Dussehra and the whole palace was brightly illuminatedlit up brightly as part of the celebration. According to a local, the electricity used that dayelectricity used up on that day to light up the palace is almost equal to the electricity used by the cityelectricity used up by the city throughout the year! The interior of the palace was as amazing as the gleaming exterior. There were examplesspecimens of weapons that were used during the wars during that periodwars in those times, paintings of the royal familypictures painted on the canvas of the royal family, details of the wars fought by the King and many more interesting things which are important from the point of view of Indian culture and history. I wish to visit the palace again at the same time next yearagain same time next year to be a part of the grand celebration and I would like to invite you to join me. I promise it willwould be a great experience. Warm wishes, Ripal
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter creates an enthusiastic, friendly account of the palace and develops the sights and return invitation particularly well. Its main task gap is that it says the visit was in Mysore but never explains how the writer travelled there, while a few tense and phrasing errors affect polish. Prioritise adding the journey details in the opening, then organise the location, sights and invitation into separate paragraphs and proofread time references.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The place, its visual impact and the invitation are developed effectively in a suitable friendly tone, but the required means of travel is omitted.
Add one clear sentence explaining how you reached Mysore and the palace, such as travelling by train and taking a taxi from the station.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter progresses logically from the visit to the palace details and future invitation, though the single-paragraph format makes the information dense.
Use separate paragraphs for the journey, what you saw and the invitation to return next year.
Lexical Resource
The descriptive vocabulary is varied and engaging, with occasional awkward or inaccurate choices such as "coincidently" and "electricity used up."
Use natural expressions such as "coincidentally," "electricity consumed" and "portraits of the royal family."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A useful range of structures conveys the account clearly, but tense shifts, missing prepositions and a faulty introductory clause reduce accuracy.
Revise forms such as "Coincidentally, it was Dussehra," "at the same time next year" and "I promise it will be a great experience."
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently visited a place that had a strong impact on you. Now you want to write to your friend about the place. Write a letter to a friend about the place. In your letter:
- explain where the place was and how you got there
- describe what you saw
- offer to take your friend there
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.