You have recently started work in a new company. Write a letter to an English-speaking friend. In your letter: - explain why you changed jobs - describe your new job - tell him/her your other news
Sample Response
Dear Tom,Dear Tom I’m just writing to let you know I quit my old job and found a new jobfound something new. I was really fed up with being a brain surgeon because it wasn’t really much of a challenge anymore. You know me; if I’m not learning new tricks, I get bored too easily and have to find something new. I’m now teaching English as a foreign language in Vietnam and it suits me down to the ground. I teach two adult classes and a kindergarten class, which is not only challenging but also rewardingalso rewarding too. Can you believe it? I also have somealso have some other amazing news—I’mnews- I’m getting married. She was one of my first ever students and I guess it was love at first sight for both of us. Make sure you keep the first weekend in July free, so you can come and celebrate with us. Keep in touch, ChrisKeep in touch Chris
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter fully addresses all three prompts with convincing personal detail and a warm, natural tone; its idiomatic language is particularly strong. The main limitation is presentation, because the salutation, body, and sign-off run together without paragraph breaks or standard punctuation. Prioritize conventional letter formatting and divide the content by purpose so the already clear message is easier to follow.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all three bullet points are fully developed with relevant detail, and the informal tone is consistently appropriate for a friend.
Retain this level of detail while using standard greeting and closing punctuation to make the communicative format fully polished.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas follow a clear sequence from the job change to the new role and personal news, but the absence of paragraph breaks weakens the letter’s visual organization.
Separate the explanation, new-job description, and wedding news into distinct paragraphs, with the closing on its own line.
Lexical Resource
A wide and natural vocabulary range, including idiomatic phrases such as “fed up” and “suits me down to the ground,” conveys personality and precise meaning.
Refine small redundancies such as “not only challenging but also rewarding too” to make the wording even more economical.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of simple and complex structures is used accurately, with only minor punctuation and coordination lapses that do not impede communication.
Add punctuation after the salutation and before the sign-off, and remove the redundant “too” from the correlative construction.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have recently started work in a new company. Write a letter to an English-speaking friend. In your letter:
- explain why you changed jobs
- describe your new job
- tell him/her your other news
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.