You were supposed to go on an interview in a few weeks, but you have since found out you cannot go on the date arranged. Write a letter to the potential employer. In your letter: - tell them why you need to move the interview time - ask to change the interview date - explain that you are still interested in being interviewed for the job
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to apologise as I will not be able to attend the interviewpresent myself for the interview which is scheduled for the second week of November. My project manager will be out of the country during this time and I will have to manage the team during his absence. I am hoping that you would be kind enough to reschedule the interview for a date in Decemberfor sometime in December. I am looking forwardeagerly waiting to meet you in a formal interview and discuss my potential for the positionpost of Executive Manager. My project managerHowever, my project manager called me yesterday to notify me that he will be in Canada from 15 to 25 Novemberfrom 15th to 25th November. He asked me to oversee the projectlook after the project during his absence. Therefore, ITherefore I will be unableincapable to attend the interview as planned. I would request you to postpone the interview date to a later date, preferablylater date - preferably in December. This would giveallow me enough time to complete my tasks and be available for the interview. I am very interested in workingaspire to work in your esteemed organisation and hope to have this opportunityand hoping to get a chance. I look forward to getting a positive responsefavourable reply from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration.Thank you for your time and consideration. Yours faithfully, Jessica Jeremy
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fully achieves its purpose, covering the scheduling conflict, requested change, and continued interest in a suitably formal tone. Its main weakness is efficiency: the reason for postponement is repeated, and the single-paragraph presentation makes the message feel heavier than necessary. Prioritise concise professional phrasing and divide the content into clear paragraphs so the request is easier to follow.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter clearly apologises, explains the scheduling conflict, requests a later interview date, and confirms continued interest in the job. The communicative purpose is achieved well.
Keep the clear bullet-point coverage, but remove repeated explanation of the project manager's absence to make the request more efficient.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas are logically ordered, but the response is one continuous paragraph and repeats the reason for rescheduling. This slightly weakens cohesion.
Use separate paragraphs for apology, reason, rescheduling request, continued interest, and closing.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is appropriate and formal overall, with some strong phrases. A few choices are unnatural or too heavy, such as 'present myself', 'incapable to attend', and 'aspire to work'.
Use direct professional phrases such as 'attend the interview', 'unable to attend', and 'remain very interested'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Grammar is mostly controlled, but errors appear in prepositions, infinitive patterns, punctuation after connectors, and some long sentences.
Check connector punctuation and fixed adjective patterns, especially 'unable to attend' and 'interested in working'.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You were supposed to go on an interview in a few weeks, but you have since found out you cannot go on the date arranged. Write a letter to the potential employer. In your letter:
- tell them why you need to move the interview time
- ask to change the interview date
- explain that you are still interested in being interviewed for the job
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.