General Training Task 1 model answer: Telling a friend about a trip they missed
The question
Recently, you went away for a weekend with a group of friends. One friend who had helped to organise the trip was unable to come at the last minute because of illness. Write a letter to this friend. In your letter: tell them about the trip; describe the best part of the weekend; suggest something you could do together soon.
Model answer
Dear Sam,
I hope you're feeling much better now. We all missed you — it felt strange being there without the person who'd done most of the planning!
I thought you'd like to hear how it went. The cottage you found in the Lake District was perfect: cosy, spotless and only a five-minute walk from the lake. Apart from a wet first morning, the weather was surprisingly kind, so we spent most of our time outdoors, hiking and kayaking, then cooking huge dinners in the evenings.
The highlight, though, was the sunrise walk on Saturday. Jonah dragged us out of bed at half past four and we grumbled the whole way up, but when we reached the top and watched the mist lift off the water below, nobody said a word for ten minutes. I've enclosed a few photos, though they really don't do it justice.
Since you missed out, why don't we plan something for just the two of us? There's a food festival in Bristol on the last weekend of next month, and I know you've been wanting to go. Let me know and I'll book the train tickets.
Lots of love,
Priya
Why it works
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are covered with vivid, specific details, and the warm, sympathetic tone is exactly right for a friend who missed out through illness.
Coherence & Cohesion
Each paragraph handles one bullet point, with informal but clear links ('The highlight, though,…', 'Since you missed out…') guiding the reader.
Lexical Resource
Natural informal language and idiom — 'dragged us out of bed', 'grumbled the whole way up', 'don't do it justice' — and contractions throughout.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Past perfect ('who'd done'), a perception verb with a bare infinitive ('watched the mist lift'), present perfect continuous and a suggestion with 'why don't we'.
Written by Stride as a study model against the public IELTS band descriptors. It has not been marked by an IELTS examiner.