a band 9 model answer that meets each requirement for the top score approved
by a former IELTS examiner that's what I've prepared for you today this is IELTS General
training writing task one the letter writing task excited it's Asiya let's get started [Music]
one of the key elements of letter writing is choosing the grammar and vocabulary that
match the formality of the context IELTS Task 1 letters can be formal semi-fomo or informal Task
1 letters are more likely to be those where you are writing formally to someone you have never met
like in this example taken from IELTS Cambridge General training 12. you're writing a letter to
a company this is definitely a formal letter some letters require slightly less formality
as in this example where you are writing to your manager a particular human being you see every
day this is a semi-formal letter you may also be required to write an informal letter to a friend
so today let's look in detail at this example a friend has written to you asking your advice
about whether to spend a year before starting University traveling or to work for the year right
back to your friend in your email yes in your email say why he or she wouldn't enjoy traveling
explain why getting a job is a good idea suggest types of jobs he or she could do remember the task
one is worth one third of the total band score so if you score an 8 on Task 1 but a band six
on task two that would give you 6.67 rounded down to the overall band score of 6.5 for the writing
section that's why you should spend not more than 20 minutes on task 1. now the letter let's look at
it all the way through first as you follow it on screen while I read think about the three bullet
points we have to include how many paragraphs are there one for each bullet point how does the
letter open if you're writing to a friend there should be some kind of a friendly greeting no
and how does the letter end after you've read it we'll look in detail at the main features and
see how they match the Task 1 descriptors in the four areas tested task achievement coherence and
cohesion lexical results or your vocabulary and finally grammatical range and accuracy or your
grammar and here is the letter Dia Monica it was great to hear from you and congratulations on your
brilliant exam results I'm sure you can't wait to start University but you've asked for my thoughts
on what you should do over the next 12 months and I honestly believe getting a job is the answer
although traveling seems such an attractive option I'm convinced you wouldn't enjoy it you've never
been the type of person who liked going without home Comforts so I can't imagine you sleeping in
cheap student hostels on the other hand working abroad for a year would give you invaluable
first-hand insight into another culture as well as a chance to improve your fluency and as you want
to study modern languages The Experience could be a really worthwhile not only that you'll be
making lots of new friends if I were you I'd start looking at schools either in France or Spain that
want assisted teachers you won't need any previous experience and I'm sure it would be rewarding
an alternative might be working as an au pair you know living with the family and probably
taking care of their young children though that has its pros and cons as you can imagine
of course it's up to you but believe me a Year's work experience is the best take care Nicole
why accounting paragraphs five right each has its specific aim one thing that is very
important is to cover all three bullet points that's what the category task achievement is
all about a Band-Aid requires that you cover all requirements of the task sufficiently and that
means that you present highlight and illustrate bullet points clearly and appropriately that's
according to the official Task 1 descriptors The Examiner uses when grading IELTS essays
another important aspect included in task achievement is the tone it's mentioned in
band 7 and assumed in bands 8 and 9 as something that is consistent and appropriate what it refers
to is the level of formality and the language we use to show those levels just as we wouldn't try
to bank manager using Expressions such as how is everything in the bank take care of yourself
neither would we begin a letter to a friend with I'm writing in reply to your letter dated October
15th in which you asked me for advice concerning your Gap year no that's the other way around I'm
writing in reply to your letter is for the bank manager and how is everything take care is for the
friend let's check our each paragraph thinking of how this letter scores on task achievement
paragraph 1 opens by making it clear that this is a reply to a letter and States what the writer's
opinion needs with regard to the two options it's a great way to open the letter because it
paraphrases the task details the friend asking for advice and also has a friendly tone typical
of personal letters great to hear from you congratulations on your brilliant exam results
in other words in the first paragraph We have a friendly tone we have a context and we have
started to tackle the three bullet points let's move on to the second paragraph it follows with
an explanation as to why traveling for a year is not the best option exactly as stated in
the first bullet point the tone is fine it gives perhaps the impression of a slightly older friend
who's writing from experience and importantly uses that first-hand knowledge to support her
point of view by mentioning not the type of person who likes going without home comforts
perhaps we could add an example like this remember the time we went camping and you were miserable or
weak examiners like to see examples to back up the main points paragraph three comes next it
justifies the job option and that is done through the fact that the friend wants to study languages
at University so it's quite easy to show how a year working abroad would be a great preparation
for such studies the tone is relatively neutral I think it's neither overly formal or informal
because this is the most serious part of the letter where she's trying to convince her friend
that the job option is the best and paragraph four in this paragraph two job options are suggested
together with reasons for taking them and again it's a fairly neutral tone starting off with a
classic conditional form of offering advice if I were you I'd how does the letter end it's good
to finish your letter strongly not only with an expression of farewell but also as in this
case with some sort of conclusion and the tone returns to Friendly it's up to you take care
right now what about the other three categories The Examiner will look at coherence and cohesion
lexical results and grammatical range and accuracy let's start in fact with your grammar
a high band score a bent eight for example will be given to an essay that includes a
wide range of grammatical structures which are sufficiently complex when necessary in practice
very few IELTS essays are completely error free but as long as you can produce a good number of
error-free sentences then you'll get a high band score in our letter I counted just 10 sentences
all of them are complex and as it's a model answer all the verb tenses are handled well we see a good
use of the present perfect to refer to events from the past that are still relevant you've asked me
you've never been above all the letter has several examples of modal verbs and conditional forms
all together I counted 12 examples of these ones this is not surprising because the idea is to
discuss future possibilities and compare options so we see how the writer makes assumptions based
on how well she knows her friend you can't wait you wouldn't enjoy I can't imagine you or you can
she also gives advice and speculates on that advice what you should do
would give you Insight could be really worthwhile you'll be making friends you won't need it would
be really rewarding we've used a range of model verbs and we also have the elegant conditional
form of giving advice if I were you I'd at the same time remember that this is an informal
letter and that's why there are so many verbal contractions throughout ranging from I'm to
you've eyed AIDS and wouldn't all are perfectly acceptable in the letter of this thought but
please remember that informal letters they should not be used vocabulary well when the examiner
looks at your vocabulary the question is how wide and how deep it is depth of vocabulary means we
know a lot about a particular topic but that's not always possible we can't know everything
in this letter the vocabulary is familiar without being really a specialist yes there is a mention
of insight into another culture and fluency in regard to studying languages as well as
assistant teacher and au pair when possible jobs are mentioned but there is nothing extraordinary
and maybe there shouldn't be in such a personal informal letter remember that the examiner is
interested in how you use English effectively not in your Insider knowledge on any particular topic
what is interesting though is the use of collocation those familiar combinations
of words that native speakers use all the time so some good examples here are to make friends
a worthwhile experience and previous experience add to those one or two colloquial phrases pros
and cons it's up to you and we have items that the examiner will always be looking out for
what about coherence and cohesion the paragraphs as well as the sentences within them are also well
organized and well connected there are good examples of cohesive devices or linking words
look at paragraph three although traveling seems so I can't imagine
paragraph 4 then contrasts that by opening with on the other hand and the letter also
has examples of and but though and not only that when we think about coherence the notion should be
that everything fits together in a perfectly logical sequence and that we can trace the
connections between ideas notice how the theme of studying work are linked throughout the letter
this model letter is just one example of how to answer this topic but you can see
how the paragraphs are all linked thematically grammatically and lexically the all-important
aspect of vocabulary and if you'd like to learn how to write letters like this and more generally
how to meet all the IELTS writing and speaking requirements and answer each type of task check
out my IELTS General pack it will help you prepare in less time and achieve a higher score and it's
linked in the description below and of course I never counted the words all right I'll tell you
220 a good length in fact a short letter may not develop all the bullet points and
therefore not score so well on task achievement so when you're preparing for task one yes count
your words but more importantly double check that you have covered all the bullet points
there are a number of common mistakes students make in general training task one not covering
one of the bullet points is a costly one you can learn about others in this video here and
thank you so much for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye