IELTS formal letter: Asking the council to make a road crossing safer

Formal letterRequest · General Training

The task

The road outside your children’s school has become dangerous for pupils to cross. Write a letter to your local council.

In your letter
• describe the road and the problem
• explain why it is getting worse
• suggest what the council could do

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 Sir or Madam,

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

Purpose: request action on one road, named.
Bullet 1: the road and what happens at drop-off and pick-up.
Bullet 2: two reasons it is worse now.
Bullet 3: two practical suggestions.
Close: a formal request for a reply.

Model letter

181 words

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

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing on behalf of several parents at Hillside Primary School to ask the council to improve safety on Station Road, directly outside the school gates.

Station Road is a busy two-lane street with no pedestrian crossing near the school. Every morning and afternoon, around three hundred children have to cross it, often between parked cars, and drivers frequently do not slow down. Last month, a nine-year-old boy was almost hit by a delivery van.

The situation has become noticeably worse since the new supermarket opened at the end of the road in March. Lorries now use Station Road to reach its loading area, and many drivers take it as a shortcut to avoid the roadworks on the main road.

We would be grateful if the council could install a zebra crossing beside the school entrance and introduce a 20 mph limit during school hours. A crossing patrol officer at the busiest times would also make a real difference.

I would appreciate a reply explaining what action the council intends to take.

Yours faithfully,
Grace Mensah

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 in turn and supported with concrete details: numbers of children, a near miss, the supermarket, the roadworks. The suggestions are specific and realistic.
Coherence and Cohesion: Paragraphs follow the bullets exactly, and each opens with a sentence that tells the reader its job.
Lexical Resource: Accurate topic words without forcing them: pedestrian crossing, loading area, shortcut, zebra crossing, crossing patrol officer.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Varied structures: a present perfect for the change (has become noticeably worse), past simple for events, and polite conditionals (We would be grateful if…).

Phrases worth reusing

I am writing on behalf of
has become noticeably worse since
We would be grateful if the council could
I would appreciate a reply explaining