You have a full-time job and are also doing a part-time evening course. You now find that you cannot continue the course. Write a letter to the course tutor. In your letter: - describe the situation - explain why you cannot continue at this time - say what action you would like to take
Sample Response
Dear Mr Kaine, I am a student of the Microsoft Office Training (MST20) course atin your institution. I am writing this letter to inform you that I willwould not be able to attend classes from 20th June onwards. I hope you will allow meI am hoping that you would allow me to continue the course with the next intake with the next intake from October 2026from October 2026. I work with a telecom company as an assistant researcher and due to some newlyrecently assigned projects, my workoffice demands more of my time. In addition, I have some strict deadlines aheadBesides, I have some strict deadlines ahead and to meet them, I will need to work a few extra hours each day. Also, I will travel to Australia at the beginning of July for some official tasks. All these new responsibilities at work have forced meAll these new responsibilities in my office force me to deferpause my course for the time being. However, I am willing to complete my course as it would be highly beneficial for my career. Therefore, I humbly requestTherefore I humbly request you to allow me to attend the next available intakebatch. This would be helpful for me to manage my office work while still continuing my course lateron the one hand and continue my course on the other hand. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours sincerely, Namrata Jain
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter fully explains the work pressures, travel commitment, and desired transfer to a later intake in a suitably formal and persuasive manner. Its main limitation is presentation: the response remains one paragraph, and a few minor collocation, modal, and punctuation issues prevent complete polish. Divide the content into clear functional paragraphs and make the deferral request more precise, including what should happen to current fees or assignments.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly describes the course and job situation, explains why the writer cannot continue, and requests transfer to the next intake. The purpose is fully achieved.
Add one sentence about whether current fees or assignments should be deferred to make the requested action even more precise.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information is logically ordered and easy to follow, but the response is one paragraph and would benefit from clearer visual organisation.
Use separate paragraphs for course identification, reasons for pausing, and the requested next intake.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is appropriate and precise for a formal letter, with effective phrases such as 'strict deadlines', 'official tasks', and 'beneficial for my career'. A few collocations are slightly unnatural.
Use smoother phrases such as 'newly assigned projects', 'require more of my time', and 'defer my enrolment'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Grammar is generally accurate, with only minor issues in modal choice, word order, and missing punctuation after a transition.
Check modal verbs in formal requests and add commas after linking words such as 'Therefore'.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have a full-time job and are also doing a part-time evening course. You now find that you cannot continue the course. Write a letter to the course tutor. In your letter:
- describe the situation
- explain why you cannot continue at this time
- say what action you would like to take
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.