A friend has written to you asking for advice about a problem at work. You have had a similar problem in the past. Write a reply to your friend. In your letter: - tell your friend you understand the problem - explain what happened to you in the past - suggest possible solutions to the problem.
Sample Response
Dear Samantha,
I’m sorry to hear thatI heard that you are having some problems communicating with other team members at the company. I am writing to tell you that I completely understand what you are going through and I hope I can offer some helpful advicehelp you with my advice.
I was in the sameexact position last year when I first started working at the company. My communication style wasMy communication styles were not compatible with my coworkers and most of the things I said were either misunderstood or ignoredeither got misunderstood or ignored. It was such an uncomfortable experience forto me and I even considered quitting the job.
However, I soon realised that mythe communication improved tremendously when I started giving more specific examples while explaining my ideas and opinions. I also started using concept-checking questionsconcept checking questions to make sure that my message was successfully conveyed. I think this method can also work wonders for youdo wonders to you and I highly recommend that you give it a try.
I hope this helps and please keep me updated on the issue.
Best wishes,
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter addresses the friend’s problem directly, supports the advice with a relevant personal experience, and progresses clearly from empathy to practical solutions. Its main weakness is a small cluster of unnatural collocations that slightly reduces precision; the highest-priority improvement is to replace phrases such as “uncomfortable experience to me” and “do wonders to you” with idiomatic alternatives.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response fully covers empathy, a similar past experience, and two relevant solutions in a consistently appropriate friendly tone.
Make the advice even more useful by briefly explaining how Samantha could introduce these techniques in her next team discussion.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information is logically sequenced across focused paragraphs, and cohesive devices guide the reader naturally from problem to solution.
Refine the closing link by separating the final two requests for a slightly cleaner finish.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and topic-specific, although several collocations, including “experience to me” and “do wonders to you,” are unnatural.
Use idiomatic combinations such as “an uncomfortable experience for me” and “work wonders for you.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response shows a wide range of accurately controlled complex structures, with only minor non-impeding lapses.
Polish coordination in the closing sentence by writing “I hope this helps, and please keep me updated.”
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
A friend has written to you asking for advice about a problem at work. You have had a similar problem in the past. Write a reply to your friend. In your letter:
- tell your friend you understand the problem
- explain what happened to you in the past
- suggest possible solutions to the problem.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.