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Model answer

General Training Task 1 model answer 18: Thanking an overseas homestay family

A high band model answer to a real General Training Task 1 question, with the task it answers. 20 minutes, at least 150 words.

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This is a model answer to a real General Training Task 1 question. Read the task first, write your own answer, and only then read the model. Reading it first tells you very little about your own writing.

A model answer shows you the target. It does not show you the gap between your answer and that target, which is why the band sample answers with corrections are worth reading alongside it.

The task

The General Training Task 1 question

Write your own answer before reading the model.

Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

You have been studying overseas and staying as a guest with a family for the last 6 months and have recently returned home. Write to the family. In your letter

  • Thank them for having you
  • Say what you enjoyed about living with them
  • Tell them what your current plans are

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear…

Write at least 150 words.

The answer

The General Training Task 1 model answer

Written at the length the test actually asks for.

Dear Kath, Dave and Jamie,

Well, I'm back home now, and I just wanted to write to you to say thanks once again for a lovely time and your wonderful hospitality to I had such a great experience and it was really kind of you to open your home to me.

Since I left, there have been a lot of things I have missed, but the main thing is Kath's cooking! Such wonderful meals prepared at home were one of my best memories of staying with you, especially now that I am back cooking for myself.

I am still thinking about studying something else at university, but for now I have taken a temporary job. I'm not really enjoying it, but I need to put a little money aside before I can go back to being a student. I have a few months before I need to make a decision and I've already arranged to meet a careers advisor to give me some ideas, so we'll see what they suggest.

Anyway, I hope you are all well and hope we'll keep in touch.

Pieter

182 words

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It shows you what a strong answer looks like. It cannot tell you what is wrong with yours, and that is the information that actually moves a band.

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