IELTS General Training Writing Task 1: How to Write Any Letter

You have 20 minutes, 150 words, and no idea whether to write "Dear Sir" or "Hi Tom"

In General Training Writing Task 1, two decisions made in the first minute tend to shape everything after them: which register you write in, and whether three bullet points become three paragraphs or two vague ones. Get both right and the letter more or less writes itself.

What follows is a decision procedure rather than a pile of samples: a register test, a word budget, and one annotated model.

What the task actually asks

Every prompt has the same shape: a situation ("You recently stayed in a hotel and were unhappy with the service"), an instruction naming the reader ("Write a letter to the hotel manager"), and three bullet points, often with your opening fixed for you. Those bullets are the task, not a menu of ideas — they are the checklist your answer is marked against.

• At least 150 words. The official instructions say only that you will be penalised if your answer is too short. No fixed deduction is published, and a short letter usually means a thin bullet too, so you pay twice.
• About 20 minutes. Writing is 60 minutes for both tasks: 20 here, 40 on Task 2.
• Task 1 is worth roughly one third of your Writing band. Task 2 is worth two thirds.

So 20 minutes is a real cap: every extra minute here is stolen from the task worth twice as much, and the way the four criteria combine into your Writing band means the trade never pays.

Academic Task 1 shares the timing, the minimum and the four criteria, but it is a report on a chart, graph, map or process rather than a letter. You don't get to pick the easier-looking one: the university, employer or immigration authority you're applying to sets which version they accept. Sitting Academic? Read the complete Academic Task 1 guide instead.

Three bullets = three body paragraphs

Three bullet points in the prompt means three body paragraphs, in the prompt's order. Not two. Not one blended paragraph touching all three. Not four, with an extra one you invented. One bullet, one paragraph, same sequence, so coverage is visible at a glance — to the examiner and to you in your final check.

Your purpose sentence opens paragraph 1; it is not a paragraph of its own. In the public band descriptors, a band 7 answer "presents a clear purpose, with the tone consistent and appropriate" and covers all the bullets clearly; band 6 allows "inconsistencies in tone" and merely adequate coverage. Miss a bullet and no vocabulary rescues that criterion.

The word budget

• Paragraph 1 — purpose sentence plus bullet 1: 45-55 words
• Paragraph 2 — bullet 2: 45-55 words
• Paragraph 3 — bullet 3: 45-55 words
• Closing line, sign-off and name: 15-20 words

With the greeting, that lands you at roughly 165-185 words with no counting during the test. Learn what 50 words looks like in your handwriting — about three sentences — and the margin looks after itself. Remember the count is of words, not lines.

Is the letter personal, semi-formal or formal?

ielts.org describes the letter as "personal, semi-formal or formal in style". Which one you need depends on your relationship with the reader, not on whether the prompt supplies a name.

The two-question register test

1. Do I know this person? No — a manager, a council, an airline, the editor of a newspaper → formal.
2. Yes: is the relationship personal or professional? A friend or family member, someone whose first name you'd use → personal (informal). A landlord, course tutor, manager or new neighbour → semi-formal, even when the prompt gives no name at all.

The name only sets the greeting, never the tone: with a name you open Dear Mr Ahmed, without one Dear Sir or Madam, and the letter to your tutor is semi-formal either way.

The semi-formal trap

Overcorrection goes both ways. Too formal, to a tutor whose name you know: "Dear Sir or Madam… I am writing to lodge a formal complaint regarding the aforementioned matter." Too friendly: "Hi Mr Ahmed, hope you're well! The heating's dead again, can you sort it?" Semi-formal is polite full sentences with a warm touch — you can acknowledge the relationship ("As you know, I have rented the flat for three years") — but no slang, no exclamation marks, few contractions.

Greetings, sign-offs and phrases that match

Use Yours faithfully when you did not name the reader and Yours sincerely when you did. The rule follows the greeting, not how formal you feel:

• Dear Sir or Madam, → Yours faithfully, → full name (Anna Novak)
• Dear Mr / Ms / Dr Smith, → Yours sincerely, → full name (Anna Novak)
• Dear Tom, → Best wishes, / All the best, / Take care, → first name only (Anna)

Never "Dear Mr John" — a title goes with a surname. If the prompt tells you how to begin, copy it exactly. A mismatch is visible before anyone reads your content, and it counts as a tone inconsistency, which lives inside Task Achievement.

The phrase bank

• Purpose: formal I am writing to complain about… / to enquire about…; semi-formal I am writing to ask whether…; personal I'm writing to tell you about…
• Request: formal I would appreciate it if you would…; semi-formal I would be grateful if you could…; personal Could you do me a favour and…
• Closing line: formal Thank you for your attention to this matter.; semi-formal Thank you for your help with this.; personal Hope to see you soon.
• Next contact: formal I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.; semi-formal I look forward to hearing from you soon.; personal Let me know what you think.

Worked example: a semi-formal letter

The prompt:

The heating system in the flat you rent has stopped working. Write a letter to your landlord, Mr Ahmed. In your letter:

• explain what the problem is
• describe how it is affecting you
• say what you would like him to do

It also fixes your opening: Begin your letter as follows: Dear Mr Ahmed,

Sixty seconds of planning. Register: I know him, the relationship is professional, so semi-formal — Dear Mr Ahmed, Yours sincerely. Then one idea per bullet: no heating since Monday; daughter ill, electric heater costing money; engineer before the weekend.

The model answer (170 words, greeting and sign-off included)

Dear Mr Ahmed,

I am writing to inform you that the central heating in my flat at 14 Bridge Road has not been working since Monday evening. The radiators stay completely cold even when the boiler is switched on, and the hot water supply has stopped as well.

As you know, the weather has been extremely cold this week, and the temperature inside the flat has dropped considerably. My daughter has a chest infection, and the lack of heating is slowing her recovery. We are currently relying on a small electric heater, which is expensive to run.

I would be grateful if you could arrange for an engineer to inspect the boiler before the weekend. I am at home every day after four o'clock, so an appointment then would be convenient. If the repair cannot be carried out this week, please let me know what alternative arrangements you can offer.

Thank you for your help with this, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Anna Novak

Why it scores

• The purpose is in line one, and the same paragraph goes straight on to bullet 1.
• Three paragraphs answer three bullets in the prompt's order, each with a concrete detail — Monday evening, 14 Bridge Road, four o'clock — and the request names an action and a deadline.
• No contractions, no slang, but not stiff: "As you know" acknowledges the relationship, which is precisely semi-formal.
• The closing stays semi-formal and Yours sincerely matches Dear Mr Ahmed. "At your earliest convenience" to your own landlord would be the overcorrection, not the safe choice.
• Every detail is invented, which is expected: nobody verifies the address or the boiler.

Mistakes that cost bands

Register drift

A letter that opens formal and drifts into a text message by the last line is a double hit: inconsistent tone under Task Achievement, inappropriate style under Lexical Resource. Weak:

I am writing to complain about a washing machine I purchased from your store on 3 March. It broke down after two weeks and your engineer never showed up. Anyway, thanks a lot, hope you can sort it out soon.

Strong:

I am writing to complain about a washing machine I purchased from your store on 3 March. The machine broke down after two weeks, and the engineer I was promised did not arrive. I would appreciate it if you could arrange a full refund. Thank you for your assistance, and I look forward to your reply.

Same information. The first caps your Task Achievement at 6 — one criterion out of four, roughly a quarter of your Writing band before rounding.

The rest

• Merging or missing a bullet. Three bullets, three paragraphs, prompt order — verify it in the final read.
• Answering in notes or bullet points. The official format page is explicit: "you will be penalised if your answer is not written as a whole piece of connected text (i.e. you must not use notes or bullet points)." A list damages several criteria at once.
• Memorised openings. "I hope this letter finds you in good health" on a complaint to an airline is a phrase dropped onto the wrong situation.
• Writing an essay. No "In conclusion", no "This essay will discuss" — save that for Task 2, where structure is scored differently.
• Adding an address, date or subject line. The instructions say you need no addresses, and nothing above the greeting earns marks, even when the situation feels like an email.

Can you use contractions?

Yes, in a personal letter, where "I'm" and "don't" are natural and their absence sounds robotic. Avoid them in a formal letter and use them sparingly in a semi-formal one. "Never use contractions in IELTS writing" is Task 2 advice copy-pasted onto letter pages.

Your 20 minutes on test day: 3 / 14 / 3

• Minutes 0-3, decide. Run the register test, lock the greeting and sign-off pair, note one idea per bullet. Don't write until the register is fixed; changing your mind mid-letter is how tone drifts.
• Minutes 3-17, write. Greeting, three paragraphs, closing line, sign-off. No stopping to reword.
• Minutes 17-20, check. All three bullets covered, comfortably over 150 words, tone consistent, sign-off matched to greeting. Then scan for the grammar slips that quietly cost band scores — articles, agreement, past-tense endings.

At minute 20 you stop and move to Task 2, whatever state the letter is in. Much of the pressure of what actually happens on test day comes from tasks you have never timed, so rehearse the clock as well as the letter: take five prompts and write only the greeting, purpose sentence and sign-off for each.

Quick Summary

• Three bullet points equal three body paragraphs, in the prompt's order, with the purpose sentence opening paragraph 1 rather than standing alone.
• Budget three paragraphs of 45-55 words plus a 15-20 word closing block to land near 170 without counting. A short answer is penalised — don't test where the line sits.
• Decide register by relationship, not by name: don't know them → formal; know them personally → personal; know them professionally → semi-formal, name or no name.
• Match greeting to sign-off: Dear Sir or Madam → Yours faithfully; Dear Mr Smith → Yours sincerely; Dear Tom → Best wishes.
• Inconsistent tone caps Task Achievement at 6 — one of the four criteria your Writing band averages.
• Stop at 20 minutes. Task 1 is one third of your Writing band; Task 2 needs the other 40.