At Band 6 of the official Task Achievement descriptor for General Training Task 1, one listed feature is: "There may be minor inconsistencies in tone." At Band 7: "The tone is consistent and appropriate to the task. Any lapses are minimal." One visible difference between those two bands is whether your letter sounds like one person wrote it from start to finish — and whether every bullet on the task card got a real answer. A complete letter follows, then a read-through showing exactly where both live.
The task, in official words
From the official General Training Writing format page (ielts.org):
"In General Training Writing Task 1, you are given a situation and you need to write a response of at least 150 words in the form of a letter."
"Depending on the task, the letter may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style."
"You should spend no more than 20 minutes on this task."
The failure
The two-thirds letter with a wandering voice: two bullets answered properly, the third waved at in half a sentence, and a drift from "Dear Mrs Okafor" towards playground English by paragraph three. Both are named in the official descriptors, and both are fixable before you write a word: one paragraph per bullet, register decided first.
The prompt
A practice prompt written for this page — not a real exam question:
A tree in your neighbour's garden has damaged the fence between your two properties. Write a letter to your neighbour. In your letter:
- describe the damage the tree has caused
- explain what you would like your neighbour to do about the tree
- suggest how the repair could be arranged and paid for
You know this neighbour slightly, so the letter should be semi-formal: friendly, but careful, because you are asking for money.
The letter
Dear Mrs Okafor,
I hope you and Daniel are well. I am writing about the ash tree at the back of your garden, which overhangs the fence between our two properties on Harcourt Road.
During the storm on the night of 9 August, a large branch came down and broke the two fence panels nearest my shed. Both panels are split along the top rail, and one of the posts is now leaning into my garden. I have taken photographs, which I am happy to share with you.
Could I ask you to have the overhanging branches cut back before the autumn winds arrive? I am concerned that the damaged section will come down completely next time.
As for the repair itself, Fenwick Fencing has quoted £180 to replace the two panels and the post. Since the fence serves both our gardens, would you be willing to split the cost? I am home most Saturday mornings if you would like to look at the damage together.
Best wishes,
Amina Diallo
(170 words including salutation and sign-off)
Read against the four criteria
The official scoring page names the four Writing criteria: "Task achievement (for task 1) and task response (for task 2), Coherence and cohesion, Lexical resource, Grammatical range and accuracy" — and adds: "The criteria are weighted equally and the score on the task is the average." Here is the letter against each, using the current (May 2023) descriptor wording. No band is assigned to this sample — there was no examiner in the room.
Task Achievement. The Band 7 descriptor for General Training says: "All bullet points are covered and clearly highlighted but could be more fully or more appropriately illustrated or extended. It presents a clear purpose. The tone is consistent and appropriate to the task." Map that onto the letter: bullet one (the damage) is paragraph two — two named panels, a split top rail, a leaning post, a date. Bullet two (what you want done) is paragraph three — cut the branches back, with a reason. Bullet three (arranging and paying) is paragraph four — a quote, a figure, a proposal to split it, a time to meet. Each bullet owns a paragraph, so an examiner can find each one without hunting — that is "clearly highlighted" in practice. Compare Band 6: "All bullet points are covered and adequately highlighted. The purpose is generally clear. There may be minor inconsistencies in tone." Covered-but-thin, or covered-but-wobbly in register, is the level below.
Tone, specifically. The register is set by "I hope you and Daniel are well" and held by "Could I ask you to…" and "would you be willing to…" — polite requests throughout, no legal threat, no slang, a sign-off that matches the opening.
Coherence and cohesion. The letter moves problem → request → solution, one paragraph each. Links are quiet and functional: "During the storm…", "As for the repair itself…", "Since the fence serves both our gardens…".
Lexical resource. The vocabulary is precise to the situation — "overhangs", "split along the top rail", "cut back", "quoted £180" — rather than decorative. Letters reward exact, ordinary words over rare ones.
Grammatical range and accuracy. Simple statements ("I have taken photographs") mix with complex ones ("which overhangs the fence between our two properties") and polite question forms ("would you be willing to split the cost?") — range shown by doing the letter's actual jobs, not by bolting on structures.
The sentences you cannot reuse
A letter this specific is deliberately unreusable — the official descriptors reserve Band 0 for cases "where there is proof that a candidate's answer has been totally memorised." These sentences only work here:
- "I am writing about the ash tree at the back of your garden" — dies without this tree.
- "During the storm on the night of 9 August, a large branch came down and broke the two fence panels nearest my shed" — a date, a cause and a location belonging to one story.
- "Fenwick Fencing has quoted £180 to replace the two panels and the post" — a company and a figure invented for this prompt.
- "I am home most Saturday mornings if you would like to look at the damage together" — only makes sense between these two neighbours.
What transfers is the skeleton — one paragraph per bullet, register decided first, a concrete proposal at the end — never the sentences.
What is not official here
- The three-bullet tree prompt is ours, not IELTS's — real tasks follow the same shape.
- IELTS says a letter "may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style" — but publishes no list of which phrases count as which register. "Semi-formal" as applied here is teaching practice, not quoted officialdom.
- For Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range we describe what the letter does rather than quote rows — read the full Task 1 rows in the official PDF yourself.
What actually costs you
- A skipped or half-answered bullet. The GT Task Achievement wording at Bands 6 and 7 begins "All bullet points are covered" — coverage is the entry ticket, not a bonus.
- Tone drift. "Minor inconsistencies in tone" is Band 6 wording; consistency is Band 7's. Decide the register before writing and audit it in your last minute.
- Coming in short. Official: "You must write at least 150 words and will be penalised if your answer is too short."
- Writing in notes. Also official: "you must not use notes or bullet points" — the answer must be "a whole piece of connected text".
- A memorised letter. Band 0 exists for a "totally memorised" answer — and a letter generic enough to pre-learn is generic enough to notice.
Try one
Your tree, your neighbour and your £180 will all be different — which is why the only useful practice is a fresh prompt with your own specifics, marked against the same four criteria.
[Write a marked letter →] — one full task, marked, no card required.