Band 7 letter sample: advising a colleague on a year off.
Read the Band 7 letter advising a colleague on a year off, then a note on each criterion and one change that would make it stronger.
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- Band 7 from our checker
- 182 words
- Semi-formal letter tone
What the semi-formal letter task asks.
A colleague at work is thinking about taking a year off to travel. They have asked you for advice.
Write a letter to your colleague. In your letter:
- say what you think about the idea
- give advice about planning the trip
- suggest how they could manage their return to work
A Band 7 letter.
Dear Martin,
Thank you for telling me about your plan to take a year off to travel. I think it is a wonderful idea. You work very hard for the last five years, and a break like this could give you new energy and memories for life.
If I were you, I would start planning at least six months before you leave. Firstly, decide which countries you want to visit and check the visa rules for each of them, because some takes a long time. Secondly, I would recomend making a realistic budget with some extra money for emergencies. When I travel around South America after university, I spent much more than I expected on transport.
As for your return, I suggest you speak to our manager before you go. She may agree to save your position.
I hope this helps. Everyone in the office will miss you, but I am sure you will have a great time, and I am looking forward to see your photos. Let me know if you want to talk about it over lunch.
Best wishes,
Laura
Band 7 letter, criterion by criterion.
Each band is the one our checker gave. Underlined in the letter: the words each note quotes.
- Task AchievementBand 7
- Every part of the task is covered: the writer's opinion, advice on planning and ideas for coming back to work. The planning advice is practical, with visas, a budget and a personal example about transport costs, but the return to work gets only one short suggestion.
- Coherence and CohesionBand 8
- The letter follows the order of the task, with a clear paragraph for each part. "Firstly" and "Secondly" order the advice, and "As for your return" moves smoothly to the last point.
- Lexical ResourceBand 6
- Words like "visa rules" and "emergencies" suit the topic, and the tone is friendly but polite. Some choices are less natural, such as "save your position", and "recomend" is misspelled.
- Grammatical Range and AccuracyBand 7
- The letter uses an if sentence and clauses with when and because. Errors in tense and agreement appear, for example "You work very hard for the last five years", "some takes a long time" and "looking forward to see".
One change that makes this letter stronger.
She may agree to save your position.
She may agree to keep your position open, or to tell you when a suitable job comes up.
The word choice is now natural, and the advice about coming back to work goes a little further.
How this letter was made.
Written with our improved AI to show writing at Band 7, on a semi-formal letter task from our own practice library. It is not a real student's letter.
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