IELTS informal letter: Giving advice to a friend moving to your country

Informal letterAdvice · General Training

The task

A friend of yours is planning to move to the country where you live. Write a letter to your friend.

In your letter
• say how you feel about their plans
• give advice about finding somewhere to live
• suggest what they should do in their first week

Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write any addresses at the top of your letter.

Begin your letter as follows:
Dear Ibrahim,

Write your letter

Then get an estimated band, with checks on every bullet point, your tone and the letter format.

0 words · 150 more to reach 150

Write your own letter first, then compare. Reading a model before you write tends to make you copy it.

The plan

Opening: react warmly to the news.
Bullet 1: how you feel and why.
Bullet 2: two practical tips about housing.
Bullet 3: two or three first-week tasks.
Close: an offer of help and an informal sign-off.

Model letter

198 words

Our checker: 8.0Task 8Coherence 8Vocabulary 8Grammar 8

Dear Ibrahim,

Thanks for your email. I was so excited to hear that you’re moving to Manchester in January! It will be brilliant to have you living so close again.

I think it’s a great decision. The job sounds perfect for you, and after the first few weeks I’m sure you’ll love the city as much as I do. It can be a bit grey and rainy, but people are really friendly, and there’s always something going on.

My main piece of advice is not to rush into renting a flat. Book a short-term room for your first month instead, so you can look at different areas before deciding. Rents near the city centre are high, but places like Didsbury and Chorlton are cheaper and still have good transport links. Never pay a deposit before you’ve seen a place in person.

In your first week, you should open a bank account and register with a local doctor, because both can take a while. You should also buy a travel card, as it’s much cheaper than paying for every bus.

Let me know your arrival date and I’ll come and meet you at the airport!

All the best,
Musa

The highlighted paragraph states the purpose; each paragraph after it covers one bullet point. Scored by the MyBandPrep checker on 7 October 2026. An estimate, not an examiner’s mark. How scoring works

Why it works

Task Achievement: All three bullets are covered with practical, well-explained advice, and the friendly tone never slips. Each tip comes with a reason, which extends the points as Band 8 asks.
Coherence and Cohesion: A logical order from feelings to housing to the first week, with a clear opening and closing.
Lexical Resource: Natural informal choices for advice: rush into, short-term, transport links, it can take a while.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: A range of advice forms (should, Never…, My main piece of advice is…), reason clauses and accurate future forms.

Phrases worth reusing

I was so excited to hear that
My main piece of advice is
In your first week, you should
Let me know your arrival date