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IELTS Writing Samples

IELTS essay samples (writing task 2), report and letter samples (writing task 1) with Band Scores, marked by IELTS teachers, including comments and suggestions on how to increase your score

IELTS essay, topic: Households should have a government-imposed limit on the amount of rubbish they produce (agree/disagree)

This is a model response to a Writing Task 2 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is close to IELTS Band 9.

Set 4 General Training book, Practice Test 17

Writing Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Every household should have a government-imposed limit on the amount of rubbish it can throw away. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Band 9 Essay

The amount of waste people produce can be quite shocking, with every person generating kilograms of rubbish in a single day, and all this can be difficult to manage. This has given some people the idea that there should be a limitation on the amount of rubbish produced per household; however, opinions are divided as to whether this would be the the most effective option.

Having a limitation on the amount of waste produced sounds like a fine solution to a significant problem, with over two hundred and fifty million tons being generated in 2016 by the U.S. alone. Taxing households that break limits would push people to produce less waste and make them more mindful of what can be recycled or composted. However, forcing people to produce less waste might not be attainable.

Households produce as much waste as they need to live their lifestyles. The waste people generate is only a result of the products they purchase, and will most likely wish to continue to purchase. Taxing people may be a cause of resentment, with many of them already struggling to pay their usual bills. In addition, if people produce more than they are allowed, this will encourage littering and dumping, so that they are not caught with more waste than entitled, and this in turn will damage the environment.

Though controlling the amount of waste produced is important, there could be other ways of encouraging lesser output. In my opinion, governments should encourage composting and recycling, which will also reduce wasted material. People should also be more aware of what waste they produce and how it can be reduced. An education drive on these issues would perhaps be more likely to succeed in reducing rubbish than imposing limitations.

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IELTS Letter, topic: Complaining about an unsatisfactory rental apartment

This is a model response to a Writing Task 1 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is close to IELTS Band 9.

Set 1 General Training book, Practice Test 3

Writing Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

You and your family have just come back from a holiday staying in a rented apartment overlooking the sea. The apartment was very unsatisfactory.

Write a letter of complaint to the manager of the agency from which you rented the apartment. In your letter,

– give details of the things that were unsatisfactory
– explain the reactions of the members of your family
– ask the manager what he/she is going to do about the situation

You should write at least 150 words.

You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir / Madam,

Sample Band 9 Letter

Dear Sir / Madam,

My family and I have just recently been a guest at Seaside Resort in a rented apartment. Even though the view overlooking the sea was lovely, several things in the apartment were missing or unsatisfactory and I would like to use this opportunity to explain the problems leading to this complaint.

First of all, the wooden steps leading up to the door of the apartment did not meet official security standards: one step broke when my husband carried our luggage up, leaving him with a bruised leg, and two other steps were also dangerously close to breaking apart in the middle. Additionally, when my children wanted to put away their clothes in the available cupboards, one of the planks broke loose, hitting my younger son and scaring both children. Finally, the kitchen did not have enough cutlery, let alone cups, and the sink in the bathroom only worked after my husband worked on it.

As you can see, the condition of the apartment was unsatisfactory in many ways, and I would therefore like to ask for a discount of thirty per cent of the price we paid for the rent.

I hope this feedback was useful to you and will help to make Seaside Resort a better place for tourists in the future. Please report back to me regarding your plans of how to deal with this situation!

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Angela Driftwood

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