A formal opinion letter published for public consumption — tone must be polite but persuasive. Avoid ranting; use facts, safety arguments and the environmental angle. One clean paragraph per bullet.
20 min·≥ 150 words·Reported · UK · 2025
Your local council recently announced plans to remove several cycling lanes in your town, arguing that they cause traffic congestion. You disagree with this decision. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. In your letter: • say why you are writing • explain why you think the cycling lanes are important • suggest what the council should do instead You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Sir or Madam,
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.
“A letter to your landlord about a broken heating system”
20 min · ≥150 words
“Air quality in many major cities is dangerously poor. What are the causes, and what can be…”
40 min · ≥250 words
“In many countries around the world, rural people are moving to cities, so the population i…”
40 min · ≥250 words
No invented detail
Letters need specifics: names, dates, model numbers. "The product" all the way through reads as memorised.