How to write an IELTS Letter/Email at the band 9 level?

A band score of 9 (the highest band score) in the IELTS examination is the dream of many IELTS candidates. Of course, it is not that easy to realise that dream, not only for non-native English speakers but also for the natives, who are “born and bred” in English-speaking countries, like the USA, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia. Having said that, with proper plans and approaches, many can attain this goal of getting a band score of 9, no matter which country they are from. In this article, we will especially focus on approaches to get that 9 band score in the IELTS GT Writing Task 1 or Letter/Email Writing Task.

Please note that the IELTS GT Writing Task 1, in some recent exams, asks candidates to write an email instead of a letter, and the email-writing task is exactly the same as the letter-writing task. So your response (or answer) would be the same in both cases.

Before anything else, you will need to understand and learn what the IELTS band 9 scoring criteria are for this GT writing task part 1, or what is called “IELTS band 9 descriptors for letter/email writing task”. This will help you know what exactly needs to be done to get a band 9 score in this task.

So, what are band descriptors, and what do they really mean?

Well, to put it in some simple words, they are the assessment criteria or the IELTS scoring requirements criteria that are used by the IELTS examiners to decide what band score a candidate is eligible to get in each section of his/her IELTS exam.

And the band 9 assessment criteria are put to use to test the capabilities of a person at the highest or expert level as this is the highest band score in the IELTS exam. So, a person, who gets band 9 in his/her IELTS exam, by fulfilling the IELTS test scoring criteria, is considered to be an “expert” with a complete command over the English language. The IELTS exam has four sections – Speaking, Reading, Writing and Listening, and the band descriptors are not the same for each section.

These band descriptors or assessment criteria are not the same for the speaking and writing part of the IELTS exam, whether we are talking about academic IELTS or IELTS-GT (or General Training). But, they are the same when it comes to assessing the performance in the speaking part, regardless of what type of IELTS test we are taking. However, for the purpose of this article, we will only discuss the descriptors or assessment criteria here that are used to assess a person’s writing task 1 skills, or more specifically, letter/email writing skills.

Band Descriptors/ Scoring criteria for IELTS letters/emails:

There are 4 different types of descriptors which are taken into consideration to assess the writing skills or performance of an IELTS candidate for a band 9 score, and they are called:

1) Task achievement
2) Coherence and cohesion
3) Lexical resource
and 4) Grammatical range and accuracy.

These descriptors or criteria are what the examiners look for when deciding on a candidate’s mark or score for the GT Writing Task 1. Now, it is very important to understand what these descriptors or bands really mean, if you want to give the examiners what they really need to award you a band 9 score on your IELTS tests.

Task achievement:
Task achievement is the IELTS assessment criteria that the examiners look for in a letter/email to check whether or not, it – the letter/email that is – fully satisfies all the requirements of the task while also coming up with a fully developed and appropriate response. To get a band score of 9 in the IELTS letter/email task, candidates must cover all the prompts or bullet points in order to make sure that the purpose of the letter/email is clearly stated, and that the letter has the proper tone/language and format. In other words, once the criteria of this particular descriptor are fully met, the examiner feels that the candidate has fulfilled the task achievement.

So, again, task achievement essentially asks the candidates, hoping to get a band 9 in his/her letter/email writing task, to write exactly what is being asked in the letter instead of jumping all over and writing about something completely different.

Coherence and cohesion:
The coherence and cohesion assessment criterion is used to check how well the paragraphs in a letter/email are actually structured, as well as how easily they flow from one sentence to another in order to present a certain idea in a free-flowing, natural manner. And the best way to do this is to have at least 4 paragraphs in a letter. The first paragraph should be the “introductory” paragraph which clearly states the purpose of the letter. The second and third paragraphs should be the main body of the letter where they clearly explain or answer the first two bullet points or the prompts in a very coherent and logical manner. The fourth paragraph should be the “conclusion” paragraph which clearly explains the actions to be taken either by the letter sender or the letter receiver if it is not already said in the main body of the letter/email. The letter should also have a clear closing or signing out section at the end.

When this scoring criterion is fully maintained in a letter/email, the examiner would be able to clearly understand what a candidate is trying to say in his/her letter/email. And when that happens, there is a very good chance that the candidate will get a band score of 9 for his/her letter/email sample.

By the way, here it is important to note that “coherence” and “cohesion” are two different words with two different meanings – coherence means whether or not, the things a candidate writes in his/her letter/email actually make sense while, on the other hand, cohesion means whether or not, the ideas in a letter are properly linked together in a free-flowing manner. It is also important to remember that coherence and cohesion between paragraphs are very sophisticated, and therefore, no errors are actually allowed there. So, the IELTS candidates would be well advised to understand this particular scoring criterion and put it to use in their letter/email writing if they really want to get a band score of 9 in this particular band descriptor.

Lexical resource:
Lexical resource criterion assesses how wide the range of vocabulary of a candidate really is. This lexical resource requires an IELTS candidate, expecting to achieve a band score of 9 in this section of the test, to use only those words that perfectly fit the topic while ensuring a very skilful use of collocation and expressions. So, in a way, this lexical resource is actually very much at the heart of clear communication in an IELTS letter/email, and that’s probably why even just a “slip” in using this resource is considered to be a “minor error” that can be a reason to lose a half or a full band score.

Grammatical range and accuracy:
Grammatical range and accuracy is the band descriptor that is used to check whether or not, there are any grammatical errors or sentence “structural flaws” in the letter/email response written by the candidate. In other words, when we are talking about an IELTS band 9 letter/email, the examiner doesn’t expect to find any grammatical error, at all. But, if an error does occur, it is most likely an unintentional “slip” and forgetfulness, or it is such an error that a native speaker might also make. In order to get a band 9, one should also make sure that the letter contains a wide range of complex sentences and other grammatical structures with full flexibility and accuracy.

Here, the term “flexibility” needs a bit of an explanation in relation to the grammatical structures a person uses in his or her IELTS letter/email. The term here basically means that the sentences should be written in such ways that the examiners can understand that you have the ability to come up with all kinds of sentence structures without complicating or compromising their true meanings. So, the more “flexibility” an IELTS candidate exercises in his or her writing, the better his/her chance would be to get a band 9 score in an IELTS letter.

Now that we have familiarised ourselves with the criteria of a band 9 IELTS letter/email, it is time for us to see, with examples, how you can actually achieve this top score in all types of letters/emails, no matter if you are writing a formal, informal or a semi-formal letter.

Example of a band 9 informal letter with comments:

You have recently opened a store and want to have a website for this store. One of your friends can help you with this.

Write a letter to the friend to ask him/her to develop a website for your newly-opened store. In your letter:

· tell what your store or business sells
· mention how you would want your website to look
· provide some ideas on how you would like to keep your website updated

Write at least 150 words.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

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Dear Evelyn,

I haven’t heard from you in ages! So, how are you? I’ve been terribly busy with my new store, and guess what my sales are only increasing, thanks to some goodwill marketing efforts of my friends and families! In fact, I’ve even decided to create a website for my store, hence this letter. So, do you think that you’d be able to build a nice-looking website for me?

To give you some idea about my store – it sells mostly handmade jewellery items that are made from gold and silver. Recently, I’ve extended the range of products to include some finely-made, wooden decorative sculptures as well. I want the website to really capture the feeling of the store, which, I think, is one-of-a-kind and exotic since my store sells some of the really unique and fashionable jewellery items. Besides, I update my merchandise regularly, so the site should also include an option to reflect that. So, your job is to basically set the website up, prepare an eCommerce feature for that and upload new photographs of the products.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! Of course, I don’t expect you to work for free as I’d expect you to charge me the same as you would charge any other client, regardless of our friendship.

Yours truly,

Martha

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As you can see in the example above, the letter has answered all the 3 bullet points nicely to show that nothing further should be added to it nor can anything be taken out from it. The use of proper salutations at the beginning and the end shows that the candidate has perfectly understood if it was going to be a formal, informal or semi-formal letter. And thus, the letter has perfectly met the criteria of “task achievement”.

Next, the letter also uses a proper paragraph format, where the organization of ideas/information has been very logical with no unnecessary use of linking words/connectives such as “anyway”, “furthermore” or “on the one hand”. In other words, the letter is perfectly fitting the criteria of “coherence and cohesion”.

Then, the letter is also perfectly fitting the criteria of “lexical resources”, as it has a good range of sophisticated and impressive vocabulary that perfectly goes with the mood or tone of the letter. Some examples of these words/vocabularies in the letter may include “range of products”, “goodwill marketing efforts”, “one-of-a-kind”, and “wooden decorative sculpture”. The proper use of an idiom or phrasal verb like “set the website up” can also be mentioned here.

Finally, when it comes to the features of “grammatical range and accuracy”, this letter scores very high too as it has a wide range of flexible and accurate grammatical structures with a combination of dependent/independent clauses and proper punctuations. An example may include the very first sentence of the second paragraph of the letter where it says:

“To give you some idea about my store – it sells mostly handmade jewellery that are made from gold and silver”.

In the example sentence, quoted above, we can notice the use of an independent clause, preceded by punctuation, that writes “it sells mostly handmade jewellery” and a dependent clause that writes “that are made from gold and silver”.

It is also fitting the bill of “flexible” structure in the following sentence where it says, “So, your job is to basically set the website up, prepare an eCommerce feature for that and upload new photographs of the products” as it has nicely summed up what essentially has been written or described in the second paragraph of the letter. This example above proves that the candidate has the ability to express the same message in different manners which is exactly what an IELTS examiner looks for when deciding on an IELTS score.

Example of a band 9 formal letter with comments:

You have recently opened a store and want to have a website for this store.

Write a letter to a local web development company to ask them to develop a website for your newly-opened store. In your letter:

· tell what your store or business sells
· mention how you would want your website to look
· provide some ideas on how you would like to keep your website updated

Write at least 150 words.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

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Now, we will use the same example to see how a formal letter is written which says the same thing but is written to a website developing company. We have used the same example to write this letter so that the IELTS candidates can understand the difference between formal and informal letters in a more visible and practical manner.

Dear Mr Jeanings,

I am writing this letter to express my interest in utilising your professional services to design and deploy a website for my newly-opened store. I have already seen some of your wonderful works, and I am quite confident that you would be able to do a fantastic job of giving my business a much-needed boost on the internet.

To introduce my business a little, it sells mostly handmade jewellery that are made from gold and silver. But, in order to offer my prospective and interested customers some more buying choices, I have recently extended the range of products to include some finely-made, wooden decorative sculptures as well that are just as exotic and unique as those jewellery items.

Now, I am fully aware of the fact that a reputed web development company like yours does not require any expert advice from anybody, but I would really appreciate it if you use the latest tools and technologies to capture the feeling of my store which, I think, is one-of-a-kind and exotic since it sells some of the really unique and fashionable jewellery items. Besides, I update my merchandise on a regular basis, and therefore, it is absolutely imperative that the site includes a special feature to accomplish that regular task as well while also enabling customers to purchase my products online.

Yours faithfully,

Martha Hansen

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In the example letter above, we have pretty much borrowed the same ideas of the informal letter but changed the vocabulary and sentence structures to make the letter professional and formal.

For example, instead of using “So, do you think that you’d be able to build a nice-looking website for me?” (added in the very first paragraph of the informal letter), we have used “I am writing this letter to express my interest in utilizing your professional services to design a website for my newly-opened store” in our formal version of the letter.

Similarly, instead of using “Besides, I update my merchandise regularly, so the site should also include an option to reflect that” from the informal version of our letter, we have used “Besides, I update my merchandise on a regular basis, and therefore, it is absolutely imperative that the site includes a special feature to accomplish that regular task as well” in our formal letter. Finally, we have used contractions (like ‘haven’t’, ‘I’d’ and so on) in our informal letter (letter to the friend) but used their full form (like ‘have not’, ‘I would’ and so on) in the formal version of that letter).

Example of a band 9 IELTS semi-formal letter with comments:

If there is a type of IELTS letter that confuses many students, it has to be the “semi-formal” letter. These are the letters that may resemble a formal letter, but they may also have elements that could very well belong to an informal letter. But, how formal or informal a letter really should depend very much on who you are writing to, and the topic you are writing about. Here is an example:

You have just moved into a new home and are planning to hold a party. You are worried that the noise may disturb your neighbour.

Write a letter to your neighbour. In your letter,

· introduce yourself
· describe your plans for the party
· invite your neighbour to come

Write at least 150 words.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

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Dear Mr Gill,

I hope you are in good health and spirit. My name is Hansen Marrison, and I have recently moved into the neighbourhood – the house next to you. I am writing this letter because I would like to take the opportunity to invite you to a party that I am throwing this Friday night.

I am planning to have a barbeque party on my front lawn and have invited a few friends, colleagues and their families. While I would like to keep the noise created by the party as low as possible, I am afraid children would love to play some music and have fun while at the party. I am afraid, it might make some unwanted noises to cause some disturbances for you.

So, I would like to apologise in advance if the noise, created by the guests, especially children, causes you some discomfort and inconvenience this Friday evening. It would be my pleasure if you join us at the party. Let’s meet, talk and take the opportunity to know each other better.

I am hoping for your presence at the party.

Yours sincerely,

Hansen Marrison

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In the example letter above, there are both formal and informal elements. For example, it is written to a neighbour who certainly deserves some formality, but he is someone we do know. And that’s why the salutation “Dear Mr Gill” has been used instead of “Dear Sir or Madam”.

The letter above has some formal elements/language too, such as “I am writing this letter because I would like to take the opportunity to invite you to a party that I am throwing this Friday night”.

Besides, the letter has some “informal” elements too, such as “I hope you are in good health and spirit” which is kind of personal and may not be too appropriate for a formal letter.

How to improve IELTS letter/email writing from band 6 to band 9:

Improving from band 6 to band 9 can be a challenging task, especially, if you don’t understand the band descriptors, as well as the mistakes that you make in your letter. In this section, we will try to see, with examples and comments, how band 6 and band 9 IELTS letters are actually written, and what criteria or features separate them from each other.

So, let’s look at the example of a band-6 letter sample.

You borrowed something from your friend, but you failed to return it on time.

Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:

· apologise for failing to return it on time
· explain what actually happened
· say how and when you are going to return it

Dear Nadia,

How are you? I just write to say sorry because I can’t return your book to you on time as I promised. I should have inform this to you before but I forgot because of being very busy. Let me tell you what happened.

I borrowed the book to make some office presentation which was scheduled before one week. I also promised you that I will return the book to you the next day. But unfortunately, the presentation was made delay until the next week. I wanted to tell you that I am going to return the book after I finish my office presentation but in the meantime, I had to leave the town for an urgent meeting with our company CEO at our company head office. I am so sorry about forgetting to inform you about your book and I remembered about it only after coming back from my head office meeting.

Again, it was very irresponsible of me because i can’t keep my promise for returning your book. But my presentation is finish after one day. When i finish my presentation, I will return your book immediately.

Best regards,

Richie Natasha

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Comments about the letter above:

Task achievement: All the 3 prompts or the points of the letter have been answered even though some details are not so much clear.

Coherence and cohesion: A proper paragraphing format, one paragraph for each prompt, has been used even though not enough linking words are visible for the transition from one paragraph to another.

Lexical resource: An effort to use some good vocabulary can be found in the letter – vocabularies like “made delay”, ‘in the meantime, and ‘irresponsible of’ – but they don’t seem to be effective enough to supplement the tone of the letter.

Grammatical range and accuracy: Complex sentence structures have been used but are often organised poorly. Problems with tense, grammar and punctuation can also be noticed in the letter. For example –

i) “…because I can’t return your book to you” should have been written as “…because I couldn’t return your book”.
ii) “I should have inform” should have been written as “I should have informed”.
iii) “I am so sorry about forgetting to inform you about your book and I remembered about it only after coming back from my head office meeting” should have been written as “I am so sorry about forgetting to inform you about your book, and I remembered about it only after coming back from my head office meeting”.

Improvement on the band 6 letter above to make it a band 9 letter:

Dear Nadia,

Hope all is well on your end. I just wanted to let you know that I’m extremely sorry for failing to return your book on time despite repeatedly reminding me that you would need that book for your upcoming tutorial lessons. As if the delay in returning the book, as promised, wasn’t frustrating enough for you, I actually added more salt to the injury, so to speak, by failing to inform you about that.

I know that my behaviour, in this case, wasn’t really of a very high standard, if left to some scrutiny, but please allow me to explain what really happened.

My office presentation was supposed to take place about a week ago, and I promised to return that book to you the very next day, after finishing my presentation. But, the presentation was postponed until the following week due to some unavoidable circumstances. I was planning to inform you about the delay, but, in the meantime, I needed to leave the town to attend an emergency meeting with my company CEO, and thus completely forgot about your book. In fact, I came to remember your book only after coming back to my town last night.

However, my presentation is going to be held tomorrow at my office, and as soon as I am done with that, the very first thing I will do is return your book.

Hope that wouldn’t cause you further problems. Take care.

Warm wishes,

Natasha

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In the improvement letter above, if we carefully notice, all the mistakes of the band 6 letter have been fixed to fully comply with the standards and criteria of a band 9 letter.

Mistakes to avoid when writing an IELTS letter/email to get a higher band score:

There could actually be a long list of mistakes that an IELTS candidate can possibly make in the IELTS letter/email writing task, but here we will talk about the most common ones.

Mistake – 1: Failing to identify the type and tone of the letter/email, as in whether it should be a formal, informal or semi-formal letter/email.

Mistake – 2: Not using proper salutations at the beginning and end of the letter.

Mistake – 3: Going off-topic by side-tracking the bullet points or prompts of the letter.

Mistake – 4: Fragmented sentence structures, improper grammar use, improper linking/connecting words, wrong punctuation and spelling.

Mistake – 5: Use of improper contractions, slang and abbreviations in a semi-formal or formal letter/email.

Mistake – 6: Not paying enough attention to the paragraph formatting of the letter/email.

Mistake – 7: Spending more than 20 minutes and yet failing to write at least 150 words to touch upon all the key points of the letter.

How to finish writing the letter/email in 20 minutes:

Utilising the allotted 20 minutes properly to finish the task is very crucial in achieving a higher band score in the IELTS writing section. Remember that, you have 60 minutes in total to finish two tasks in your writing test. The first task is letter/email writing and the second task is essay writing. Please note that the essay carries double the points than the letter sample in your overall writing band score. So you should allocate no less than 40 minutes for planning, organising, writing and revising your essay. And that leaves you with 20 minutes to complete your letter/email sample.

You should also take at least 3 to 5 minutes to plan and organise your thoughts before you start writing your letter/email. If we take this time to plan and organize, there is a very good chance that we will finish writing our letters, by touching upon all three bullet points/prompts, at least 2/3 minutes before the stipulated 20 minutes duration. We then should use the remaining 2/3 minutes to edit or proofread the letter instead of counting the words.

Our final advice is that, practice more. When you practice over and over again, you know how many lines make over 150 words, and you get the chance to write faster and overcome the mistakes you usually do. It is also a great idea to have someone check your sample every time you write one. This way he/she would be able to help you determine your mistakes and suggest ways to overcome them.