You are studying for a qualification, and you would like some time off from your work to complete it. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter: - ask for some time off to complete the qualification - suggest what you will do later at work if you have time off - say how the qualification will help your job or company
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing this letter to explore the possibility of having leave from 12 June to 27 Junea fortnight off from my work, from 12th June to 27th June, in order to complete my Advanced Diploma courseAdvance diploma course in Digital Business and Trade. I am almost finished with the course, and now all I need to do is take the final exams which will start within two weeks. Luckily, I still have some unused annual leaves, and I want to finally use them up by taking the final exams to finish my diploma course. HoweverHaving said that, however, if you feelmy company still feels that I would need to make up for those missing days at work, I would be more than happy to work at weekendswork on the weekends as well as start work earlyshow up early at work once the exams are over. This qualificationFor your kind information, this particular certification is important for me and the company since it will help me, in the capacity of a Senior Marketing Manager, to better position my company to tap into a huge number of prospective customers who want to buy our products online. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, Kelly Bower
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter addresses every requirement directly and supports the request with precise dates, a practical work arrangement, and a convincing explanation of the qualification's value. Its main limitation is presentation as a single dense paragraph, while a few unnatural expressions and count-form errors reduce polish. The highest-priority improvement is to divide the content into focused paragraphs and edit formal phrases for greater accuracy and naturalness.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The request, proposed compensation at work, and benefits to the company are all clearly and sufficiently developed in a suitable formal tone.
Address the manager by name or job title where possible to make the professional context more credible and appropriately targeted.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a clear sequence and linking is effective, but the single-paragraph format obscures the distinct stages of the request.
Separate the request, make-up arrangements, and business benefits into three focused body paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and appropriately formal, although phrases such as unused annual leaves and For your kind information are not fully natural.
Use idiomatic workplace language such as unused annual leave and This qualification will benefit the company by.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are used with generally good control, but there are occasional form and count errors alongside some overextended structures.
Correct forms such as Advanced Diploma and annual leave, and split the final long sentence to improve grammatical control.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are studying for a qualification, and you would like some time off from your work to complete it. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter:
- ask for some time off to complete the qualification
- suggest what you will do later at work if you have time off
- say how the qualification will help your job or company
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.