You have seen an advertisement for a part-time job at a sports centre in your town. Write a letter to the manager. In your letter: - explain why you are interested in the job - describe the experience you have - say when you would be able to start
Sample Response
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to apply for the part-time reception assistant positionposition of reception assistant at Riverside Sports Centre, which was advertised in the Weekly Gazette on 5 June.
The job appeals to me because it combines customer service with my interest in sportcustomer service with sport. I have been a member of the centre for four years, so I already know how busy the reception area gets at the weekend. I am also keen to work in a role in which I can applyan environment where I can use my language skills.
I have two years of experience in a similar role. At Green Cafe I was responsible for taking bookings, handling payments and dealing with complaints, serving around a hundred customers a day. I also helped to train two new members of staff last year. In addition, I am proficient in using booking softwarecomfortable using booking software and I speak both Japanese and English.
I am available from 1 July and could work on any weekday eveningany evening from Monday to Friday, as well as Saturday mornings. I have enclosed my CV and would be happy to attend an interview at your convenienceat any time.
Yours faithfully, Taro Yamada
Why this response received Band 8.5
This is a highly effective application letter: it addresses every requested point directly, supports the claims with specific experience, and maintains a concise, appropriately formal tone throughout. The main opportunity is a small one—the bilingual and staff-training experience could be linked even more explicitly to the sports centre’s reception needs. Making that connection would further strengthen an already persuasive application.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The application fully satisfies the purpose and develops all three bullet points with specific, persuasive, and consistently appropriate detail.
As a final refinement, connect the language and training experience directly to the manager’s likely reception needs.
Coherence and Cohesion
Each paragraph has a clear function, ideas progress naturally, and cohesive devices guide the reader without drawing attention to themselves.
Preserve this concise structure while making the link between qualifications and workplace benefits even more explicit.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is precise, flexible, and well matched to a formal job application, with natural language for duties, availability, and customer service.
Add one carefully chosen phrase showing how the applicant’s bilingual ability would benefit centre members.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex and simple structures is used accurately and naturally throughout the letter.
Continue using this level of control while varying sentence openings slightly in future formal letters.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have seen an advertisement for a part-time job at a sports centre in your town. Write a letter to the manager. In your letter:
- explain why you are interested in the job
- describe the experience you have
- say when you would be able to start
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.