Write a letter to the Information Officer at the TAPE Information Office about the Tertiary Preparation Certificate. In your letter: - ask for information about the certificate - describe your educational background - explain why you want to do the course
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to request some information regarding your Tertiary Preparation Certificate programme which I am planning to pursue this term. I hope you can provideI am hoping you would provide the necessary details so that I can enrol in the courseintake the course. Regarding my education qualification, I have finished my high school diploma from the Montessori Elementary School in Baguio, the Philippines, three years ago and my major was science. I received a mark of 76%76% marks in my final school examinationschool final exam. Now I want to gain admission toget admitted to a reputable university for higher educationa reputed university for higher studies in the UK soand for that I want to enrol in this course. I am convinced that the Tertiary Preparation Certificate programmethe tertiary preparation course at your institution would greatly help me prepare for university studyin my university education. To help me plan, I need to knowFor that, I need to know the programme duration, tuition fees, and admission procedurecourse duration, tuition fee and admission procedure for the Tertiary Preparation Certificate programme. I am planning to take the architectural study in a reputed UK university and would really appreciate it if you inform me of the courses I should take. Finally, could you also inform medo inform me of the list of required documentsdocument checklist for admissionfor getting admission. Thank you in advance. I look forward to your response to my enquirieskind response regarding my concerns. Yours faithfully, Lyn Olivar
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter has a clear formal purpose and thoroughly covers the requested information, the writer's educational background, and the reason for taking the course. Its main weakness is the concentration of several awkward collocations and grammatical choices within one unbroken paragraph, which reduces polish and readability. The highest-priority improvement is to organise the requests into distinct paragraphs and revise phrases such as 'intake the course' and 'architectural study' into natural formal English.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The formal letter clearly fulfils its purpose, covers all three bullet points, and develops the requests with useful specific details.
Clarify exactly which architectural preparation subjects are being requested so that the final question is fully precise.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a sensible sequence and linking is generally clear, but the entire letter is presented as one dense paragraph.
Separate the opening, educational background and motivation, detailed requests, and closing into clear functional paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is adequate and sometimes varied for education and admissions, though several inaccurate collocations reduce naturalness.
Replace awkward phrases such as 'intake the course', 'education qualification', and 'architectural study' with standard academic collocations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied sentence structures with generally clear meaning, but several article, word-form, and clause-pattern errors remain noticeable.
Improve control of formal request structures, for example using 'I would appreciate it if you could inform me' consistently.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Write a letter to the Information Officer at the TAPE Information Office about the Tertiary Preparation Certificate. In your letter:
- ask for information about the certificate
- describe your educational background
- explain why you want to do the course
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.