Semi-formal tone — friendly enough that you know them, respectful enough that you’re asking a favour. Show a genuine interest in their experience, not just a transactional request for a recommendation.
20 min·≥ 150 words·Reported · Australia · 2025
Your former colleague recently completed a Master’s degree part-time while working, and you are thinking of doing the same thing. Write a letter to your former colleague. In your letter: • explain your current situation at work • ask how they managed to balance work and study • ask whether they would recommend the programme they took You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Joanna,
How to crack it
A 4-step plan for the letter
Fix the register first.
Who is the reader — stranger, acquaintance, or friend? That decides every word from "Dear…" to the sign-off. Tone, purpose and bullet-point coverage contribute to Task Achievement; there is no published half-score allocation for register.
Cover every bullet point.
Address and develop each bullet point. One paragraph per bullet can help you plan, but it is not a compulsory structure or a whole-task band cap.
Open with the purpose.
"I am writing to…" (formal) or "Just wanted to tell you…" (informal). The reader should know why you're writing by the end of line one.
Close in the same voice.
"Yours faithfully" after Dear Sir or Madam; "Yours sincerely" after a name; "Best wishes" to a friend. A mismatched sign-off is a register error in the last line they read.
What loses you the band
The four traps this question sets
Mixed register
"I am writing to inform you" next to "gonna" — pick one voice and hold it.
A skipped bullet
All three bullet points must be covered AND developed. Two done well is still a penalty.
Copying the prompt
Paraphrase the situation in your own words — lifted lines don't count toward 150.
“Some say university should be free for all. Others say students should pay tuition. Discus…”
40 min · ≥250 words
“Some experts believe children should start learning a foreign language at primary school. …”
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“Some university students want to learn about other subjects in addition to their main subj…”
40 min · ≥250 words
Use plausible details
Letters benefit from relevant details that fit the situation. You can invent plausible details for the task; do not use sensitive personal information in public examples.