The question
A company is appealing to your local city council to open a factory near where you live. You and your neighbors are opposed to the idea. Write a letter to the city council stating
That’s strange
Good introduction with a clear purpose
Bullet 1 covered Pity you wrote about “carbon” ie CO2, which is not a pollutant and poses no risk whatsoever. It’s ok though, as most people would agree with you. Better to write about dioxins, sulphur emission, groundwater contamination, loss of natural habitat, building on green land Or you could mention that the proposed site is right next to a school
good
good
good
good
better: our peaceful neighbourhood
see LR
Simpler and better:: at night
Bullet 2 covered
good
better: if the City Council intends to grant permission for the construction of the factory,
Or you could be specific: the Brownfield Industrial Zone, 5 miles from the town
good
Bullet 3 covered
good
for these reasons,
good
Appropriate closing formula
good
v good
or factory
better: at night
The arithmetic
TA 7.0+CC 8.0+LR 8.0+GRA 9.0=32÷ 4 =Band 8.0IELTS writing takes the arithmetic mean of the four criteria, rounded to the nearest half band. One lagging criterion drags the whole score — fixing TA alone takes this paper from 8.0 to 8.5.
As you’re planning and writing your answer, remember to constantly ask yourself if you’re answering the question. Check back to the question a few times as you think of ideas to make sure they're directly relevant. Your goal should be to make it easy for the examiner to give you a high score
TTony Grace · notes from the examiner
In a GT letter, I recommend that your first paragraph state the purpose of your letter, and there should be 3 other main body paragraphs, as indicated below. That’s 4 main paragraphs altogether, plus a final one for a closing remark, like I look forward to hearing from you.
Even if you’re writing to a friend, make it easy for the examiner to see the purpose with a sentence like I’m writing to let you know that […] and that […]. To be sure of getting a 7 or higher for TA, you should mention one or of the bullet points, depending on the question.
Write one paragraph per bullet point, and organise them in the same sequence as the bullets in the question. Write 40-60 words for each. If you just minimally cover one of the bullets, you cannot assume that it’s ok just to write extra for the others. You need to fully cover them all to get a high score. Note that it’s ok to have relatively short paragraphs in Task 1. It is only in Task 2 that you need topic sentences and supporting ideas.
There must also by a closing formula, like Many thanks, / Yours sincerely, and you must sign your name.
TTony Grace · notes from the examiner
Phrase
TTony Grace · notes from the examiner
Close the gap
Same question, fresh draft against the clock — with the examiner's margin notes one tab away.
Start rewriteDrillTA is what held this paper back. Warm up on the weakness before the next full essay.
Open practiceCompare“Letter to the council re historic building” — same task, marked by the same standard. See what the top band looks like.
Open paper