Asking a favour of a friend: casual register with a genuine promise of care — "I'll guard it with my life" beats a formal guarantee.
20 min·≥ 150 words·Classic GT scenario
You are going on a special trip next month and would like to borrow the camera your friend recently bought. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: • tell them about the trip • explain why you need a good camera and ask to borrow theirs • promise how you will look after it You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Alex,
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.
“Artificial intelligence will replace many human jobs in the coming decades. Is this a posi…”
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“Some people believe smartphones are damaging social interaction. Do you agree or disagree?”
40 min · ≥250 words
“The most important aim of science should be to improve people's lives. To what extent do y…”
40 min · ≥250 words
No invented detail
Letters need specifics: names, dates, model numbers. "The product" all the way through reads as memorised.