Example Writing Answers for the ieltshelpnow.

com General Training

Practice Tests 1 - 5
Below you will find example writing answers for all the writing questions in the ieltshelpnow.com
General Training Practice Tests, tests 1 to 5. All of these example letters and essays were written
by an IELTS examiner in order to give examples of good answers. Please refer to the question
papers while you are reading these letters and essays so that you understand the questions that
are being answered. We hope this will give you an insight into how the writing answers should be
written for IELTS General Training module. We must also point out that there are many ways of
answering the writing questions with band 9 quality and that we have only produced one example
for each question.

General Training Writing Practice Test 1

Task 1

Dear Sir,

I am writing in connection with a bag that I left on one of your planes. Last week on Tuesday
4th May I came to London on flight ABC from New York. My seat number was R5. The plane
arrived late at night and I was tired. As a result when I got home, I remembered that I had
left my bag on the plane under the seat in front of me.

My bag is small and made of black leather with a zip opening the top. Inside the bag there is a
pen, a paperback I was reading, some car keys and my diary.

Therefore would your lost property department please check and see if they have my bag and
contact me as soon as possible to let me know whether they have found it or not?

You can contact me on my mobile telephone number which is: 01753 853 736.

Thanking you in advance for your help, I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

(171 words)

Task 2

It is true that children today spend far more time indoors than in previous generations. I
would say that this has both a positive and negative side.

Children today seem to spend far too long inside with computer games, watching TV and
videos. This is definitely bad in some ways because children should develop outdoor pursuits
such as football, cricket and basketball that would make them healthy now and in their later
lives. If they don‛t learn to play sports when they‛re young, it is unlikely that they will develop
these healthy habits later in life and the results can be seen today in the higher levels of
obesity and related illnesses such as diabetes. When I was young I had only sports to keep me
occupied and I am grateful now that I still love and play the sports of my youth.

On the other hand the world today is dominated by computers and electronics so it‛s
important that children learn to like and understand computers and technology early in life.
The older generation didn‛t have the opportunity to have this electronic entertainment and so
don‛t understand the attraction.

In conclusion I would certainly agree that it is bad and unhealthy for children to spend all
their time indoors with electronic entertainment. I don‛t think all children are too dependent
on electronic entertainment but too many definitely are. We cannot expect though that
children will totally ignore today‛s technologies and it is important that they grow up with
awareness and understanding of these things that will dominate their later lives. I believe
it is up to parents to guide and encourage a reasonable mixture of both indoor and outdoor
pursuits.

(281 words)

General Training Writing Practice Test 2

Task 1

Dear Sir,

I am writing to inquire about staying at your hotel with my family for a weekend.

My family consists of my wife, my two sons and myself. We would like to arrive on 14th
August and leave on 16th August (the Friday and Saturday nights) – My wife and I would like
to have a double room with a view of the sea and my sons will share a twin room. A few is not
important for them. Please would you contact me as soon as possible with the details of prices
for this arrangement with us staying on a bed and breakfast basis.

We do not know the area around your hotel so could you please also include in your letter
some of the activities that are available nearby that my family might like. My two sons are 13
and 11 years old.

Thanking you in advance for your help, I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

(162 words)
Task 2

We have known for some time now that smoking is a killer. I completely agree that all
countries should introduce laws that ban smoking in all public areas.

This is a difficult subject though. Many of smokers believe that they have the right to smoke
where they want and that non-smokers have the option just to go away from them. They
have a point to some extent but tobacco smoke is not perfume. The smell gets into your hair,
clothes and eyes and of course the smoke gets into your lungs which makes you feel bad the
next day and can cause illnesses over a long time. There are just too many bad things which
smoking causes to let people have the right to smoke anywhere.

The whole world banning smokng in public areas is optimistic. It is not probable that all
countries on Earth will do this although Ireland and Italy have done so and many parts of US
as well. It is a good goal to try to aim for though. The more that smoking is prohibited then,
slowly, the more people will realise how it can kill them. People who would normally die would
live and huge amounts of money will be saved on treating diseases caused by smoking such as
cancer and heart disease. If this leads to the fall of tobacco companies with losses of jobs
and money for the company owners then I can only say good. Governments will lose taxes but I
am sure that governments will think up other ways of introducing more taxes!

So I completely agree with the statement that all countries should prohibit smoking in public
places.

(278 words)

General Training Writing Practice Test 3

Task 1

Dear Sir,

I am writing in connection with a radio I bought two weeks ago in your shop in London Road.
When I went home and played it, I found that it didn‛t work properly. I am very dissatisfied
with your product. I am going on holiday soon and I bought the radio because so that I could
listen to it whilst I was away.

I returned the radio the next day to your shop and man who dealt with me said that he would
fix the problem and call me straight away. I have now been waiting one week for this call and I
have heard nothing. Thus I am now also very dissatisfied with your service.

Therefore lease call me very soon and let meknow that you have either fixed my radio or that
you will give me a new one. For your information I enclose a photocopy of my original receipt
and the repair voucher that I was given.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,
John Smith

(171 words)

Task 2

Schools in my country have both systems of teaching. some schools are coeducational and
some are single sex. People have mixed ideas about this issue but I think it is better to have
single sex classes.

This is not to say that I believe in single sex schools. Girls and boys can attend the same
schools but I just think that both boys and girls study better if they are not mixed together
for lessons. Study is so important nowadays and children need a good standard of education
than ever before. For this reason children need every encouragement and as few distractions
in their classroom as possible. Girls and boys at high school age are beginning to take an
interest in each other and the results of this can only be detrimental to their education. This
is not the case of course for primary education where the pupils are of such ages that mixed
sex classes do not matter.

I can give no empirical data to support my argument but I can offer my experience. I have
been a teacher for many years and I know that the fewer the distractions for pupils in
classes, the easier the teaching and the more successful the learning will be. Some people
argue that girls and boys should be together all the way through their education so that they
can be used to each other and hat once they are used together then they will not distract
each other. This sounds good but my experience of seeing this in practice has taught me that
it is incorrect. Also if their schools but not classes are coeducational then they will have
adequate contact with each other.

So in conclusion I firmly believe that education is so important for boys and girls that we
must provide them with as few distractions as possible during their school lives. To this end I
believe that single sex classes in high schools lead to better results.

(328 words)

General Training Writing Practice Test 4

Task 1

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have recently been awarded a place at your college and I so I am now writing in order to
organise my accommodation requirements for my first year.

As I will not know anyone at the College, I would like to spend my first year in a Hall of
Residence so that I can meet people and make some new friends more easily. I would prefer
the Hall to be a single sex female only hall and with full board so that I won‛t have to worry
about cooking for myself. If the hall also had some coking facilities, this too would be an
advantage.

In addition I also require a vegetarian choice for food as I am vegetarian. If there are no
halls offering the above then I would be satisfied in a hall with kitchens so I can cook. In
addition to this I would not like to share my room and I would prefer en suite facilities if you
have halls offering this.

Thanking you for your assistance in advance, I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Anna Roberts

(185 words)

Task 2

I completely agree with the statement that English should be the primary foreign language
taught in schools around the world but I do not necessarily agree that learning other
languages is a waste of time.

English is, for better or worse, the main lingua franca of the world today. English is the
language for travel, business and other things. If you want to stay in a hotel, go to a
restaurant, change money, you need English. The United States is also the most powerful
economic and scientific country in the world. It might change in the future but the trend now
is for most people to use English. Thus it is logical to say that it should be English that should
be taught primarily in schools around the world.

However, it would be very arrogant to say that other languages are not also important. There
is the enjoyment of learning different languages and the knowledge of different cultures
from countries that can only really be learned about with a knowledge of the language of
those countries. Also it could be more important to learn the language of the country that is
next to your country. In addition Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Brazil could be
very important economically in the future so maybe these languages should also be learned in
school.

So I think English should be the primary foreign language taught in schools around the world
but learning a different foreign language is definitely not a waste of time.

(251 words)

General Training Writing Practice Test 5

Task 1

Dear Sir,
Last week on Saturday night some friends and I had dinner in your restaurant to celebrate
my birthday. I am writing to thank you for the great evening that we had.

All my friends remarked afterwards on the standard of the food and service that we
received. All the food was very tasty and well presented. Our waiter, whose name was James,
was fast and friendly and put with well with our bad jokes! The restaurant itself was warm
and friendly and the atmosphere showed that all the diners there were enjoying their evening.

I would like though to suggest one improvement. One of my friends is a vegetarian and he felt
that the choice for vegetarians was little small. If you could develop that, it would be a great
advantage to your restaurant.

Once again I would like to thank you for my highly enjoyable birthday dinner.

Yours faithfully,

Rebecca Ahlinder

(152 words)

Task 2

Many people travel nowadays; vastly more than at the start of the 20th Century. In the 20th
Century this increase was due to the improvement in the means of travelling. In this century I
believe that the numbers of people travelling will continue to grow. This will be due to various
factors.

Just like last century I believe that travel technology will get more advanced and that it will
become cheaper and therefore more people will have the opportunity to fly. In addition to
this, lesser-developed and poorer nations today, such as China and other Southeast Asian and
African countries, will become richer and more of the population will be able to afford to fly.
Other factors will be a greater awareness in travel and travelling in order to obtain a better
education. These I feel will be the factors most responsible for the future growth of travel.

On the other hand there will be factors negatively affecting the growth in travel. At present
the most important one is probably the threat of terrorism leading to a fear of travelling
by plane. Also the spread of wealth and opportunities around Southeast Asia and Africa will
lessen the need for people to travel for a better life or education.

The reasons negatively affecting the growth of travel are certainly important but I believe
that the ones that will positively affect its growth will prove far more powerful and so I
believe that travel in the 21st Century will certainly continue to grow and become even more
popular.

(257 words)