Samples / Task 1 General letter / Formal letter / Band 7.5

Requesting Two Weeks Off for a Family Matter

A Band 7.5 IELTS General Training Task 1 response requesting leave from a manager, demonstrating clear purpose, appropriate tone, and minor grammatical slips.

The question

You need to take two weeks off work for a family matter. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter: explain why you need the time off, say when you would like to take it, describe how your work will be covered while you are away. Begin your letter 'Dear ...'. You do not need to write any addresses.

Dear Mr. Henderson, I am writing to formally request two weeks of leave starting next month due to an urgent family matter that requires my immediate attention. My mother, who lives in Spain, is scheduled to undergo major hip replacement surgery. As she lives alone and has no other relatives nearby to assist her, I need to travel there to support her with the operation and help her with her post-operative recovery and daily chores for the first fortnight. I would like to take this leave from Monday, November 6th, returning to the office on Monday, November 20th. I understand this is a busy period for our team, which is why I wanted to give you as much advance notice as possible to make the necessary arrangements. To ensure that my absence does not disrupt our ongoing projects, I have already spoken to Sarah from the marketing department. She has kindly agreed to cover my main responsibilities, including monitoring of my inbox and handling any urgent client inquiries. I will also make sure of completing all my pending weekly reports before I depart, and I will be reachable via email for any extreme emergencies. Thank you for your understanding and support regarding this personal matter. I look forward to your response. Yours sincerely, David Miller

Raised the bandHeld the band downHover a highlight for the note

This answer was written by a language model to a real exam question, then scored by Bandly against the four public band descriptors. The band is a software estimate. No examiner has marked it, and the band a real examiner would award may differ. Scored with google/gemini-3.5-flash on 2026-09-08.

Estimated overall

7.5

Mean of the four criteria, rounded the way the exam rounds it.

Task Achievement 9

You fully satisfy all parts of the task with a clear, well‑developed explanation, timing, and coverage plan for your absence.

Coherence and Cohesion 7

Your response demonstrates clear progression of ideas and appropriate use of cohesive devices, but there is some slight under-use of referencing within sentences.

Lexical Resource 7

You use a sufficient range of vocabulary with some awareness of style and collocation, but occasional errors in word choice and a slightly limited range prevent a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy 7

While the response demonstrates a good control of grammar and punctuation, the range of complex structures is not wide enough to achieve a higher band.

What would take this higher

To potentially improve your Coherence and Cohesion score to a Band 8, you should focus on using more precise referencing and substitution to avoid repetitive pronouns. For instance, in the fourth paragraph, instead of repeating "my" multiple times in "my main responsibilities," "my inbox," and "my pending weekly reports," you could use cohesive devices like "these tasks" or "the latter" to link your duties. Refining these internal sentence connections throughout the letter would help create a more seamless flow of information.

Find out what this essay would score

Paste your own answer and Bandly returns an estimated band for each of the four criteria, with the sentences that pulled the score down. Under a cent an essay, about six seconds.

Check my essay

More at this level

Band 7.5Task 1 General letter

GT Task 1 Letter: Letter to a Neighbour About Late-Night Noise

A practice letter to a neighbour addressing late-night noise issues, written to demonstrate a realistic Band 7 performance under exam conditions.

190 wordsSemi formal letter

Band 7.5Task 1 Academic report

Commuter Transport Preferences in Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Houston (2023)

An IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 sample report analyzing commuting habits in three major global cities in 2023, featuring a band 7.5 model answer.

222 wordsBar chart

Band 7.5Task 1 Academic report

Municipal Water Treatment Process Academic Report

A Band 7 model answer describing the process of producing drinking water at a municipal treatment plant, featuring realistic candidate errors.

194 wordsProcess diagram