Professional damage control: brief apology, honest reason, and a concrete proposal — date, time, format — to fix it.
20 min·≥ 150 words·Classic GT scenario
Yesterday you missed an important meeting with a colleague from another office who had travelled to see you. Write a letter to your colleague. In your letter: • apologise for missing the meeting • explain what happened • suggest how and when you could meet instead You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Mr Tanaka,
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. Register is half of Task Achievement here.
One bullet = one paragraph.
Three bullets, three body paragraphs, in the same order. The examiner literally ticks them off — a missed or thin bullet caps the band.
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.
“An application letter for a part-time job at a local restaurant”
20 min · ≥150 words
“Some argue that companies should switch to a four-day working week. Do the advantages outw…”
40 min · ≥250 words
“More people are working from home rather than the office. Do the advantages outweigh the d…”
40 min · ≥250 words
No invented detail
Letters need specifics: names, dates, model numbers. "The product" all the way through reads as memorised.