Duration: 90 minutesModule: General Training WritingFocus: The unasked request · 3/15/2 timing · a timed semi-formal request · structured peer review
Objectives
Recognise the three remaining high-frequency letter types and the trap attached to each.
Convert a vague topic opening into an explicit request in the first sentence.
Work to the 3 / 15 / 2 division of the twenty minutes, and stop editing while drafting.
Run the five-point check on your own letter before submitting it.
Give and receive structured peer feedback using five yes/no questions.
Every writing box on this page marks itself
Write your answer, then press Get AI Evaluation. You get indicative bands on all four criteria within about twenty seconds, tuned for letters rather than charts. It is practice guidance, not an official score — always submit by email as well so your teacher sees the script.
0:00 – 0:20
The Three Remaining Letter Types
Between them, five letter types cover the overwhelming majority of GT Task 1 prompts. You have done complaint and thank-you. Here are the other three.
Type
What the prompt looks like
The trap
Request
You need something: time off, an extension, a repair, information, permission.
Explaining the situation beautifully and never actually asking. See below — this is the single most common Task Achievement failure in the whole module.
Application
You are applying for a job, a course, a place, a grant.
Writing a CV in prose. The examiner wants a letter, not a list of qualifications.
Explanation / apology
Something has gone wrong and you are accounting for it: a missed deadline, damage, an absence.
Over-apologising and under-explaining. One apology, then the facts, then the remedy.
The unasked request
Read these two openings.
"I am writing regarding my current workload and the difficulties I have been experiencing with the March deadline."
"I am writing to request a two-week extension to the March deadline."
The first is a topic. The second is a request. A letter that opens with the first and never gets round to the second — because the writer assumed the reader would infer it — scores a 5 on Task Achievement, however good the English is. Say what you want, in the first sentence, in words.
Turn the topic into a request
Rewrite each opening so it names what the writer actually wants.
"I am writing about the noise from the flat above mine."
"I am writing about the course I enrolled on last month."
"I am writing regarding my recent hospital appointment and my shift on Friday."
"I am writing to ask you to speak to the tenants in flat 4B about the noise late at night."
"I am writing to request a transfer to the evening group, or a refund if that is not possible."
"I am writing to ask whether I could swap my Friday shift with a colleague, as I have a hospital appointment that morning."
Notice that each rewrite is barely longer than the original. This costs you nothing in words and is worth a band on Task Achievement.
0:20 – 0:40
Twenty Minutes: 3 · 15 · 2
Task 1 is worth a third of your Writing band and gets a third of the hour. Twenty minutes, and not a minute of Task 2's forty.
3 minutes — plan
Who is the recipient? → register, salutation, sign-off. Write them down.
Number the three bullets 1, 2, 3 on the question paper.
Beside each, write three or four words of content. Not sentences.
Decide your one-sentence purpose line.
15 minutes — write
Salutation, purpose sentence.
Paragraph per bullet, in order.
One closing line, sign-off.
Do not stop to edit. Editing while drafting is what makes people run out of time.
2 minutes — the five-point check
All three bullets, one paragraph each?
Purpose in the first sentence?
Sign-off matches salutation?
Contractions in a formal letter? (Or the absence of them in an informal one?)
Over 150 words?
Use the count-up stopwatch below if you want to see where your twenty minutes actually goes. Most people discover they spend eight minutes on the first paragraph and four on the last two combined.
00:00
Count-up — where does your time go?
0:40 – 1:05
Timed Write — A Request Letter
Twenty minutes on the clock, no notes, no dictionary. Then AI feedback.
Task 1 — timed
You need to take three weeks away from work for a family occasion. Write a letter to your manager, Ms Karki.
In your letter:
explain why you need the time off
say exactly when you would like to be away
suggest how your work could be covered while you are absent
You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter Dear Ms Karki. Write at least 150 words.
Your request letter
Target: 150+ words · 20 min
Words: 0Not saved yet
20:00
Task 1 — 20 min
1:05 – 1:30
Peer Swap
Swap letters with the person next to you — on screen or on paper. You are not marking their English. You are answering five yes/no questions about their letter, in four minutes.
#
Question
Yes / No
1
After reading only the first sentence, do I know what this letter wants?
2
Are all three bullets covered, and can I point to the paragraph for each?
3
Does the sign-off match the salutation?
4
Is the tone the same in the last paragraph as in the first?
5
Is the third bullet developed, or just mentioned?
Why a checklist and not "give feedback"
Open-ended peer feedback produces "it was good, maybe check the grammar", which helps nobody. Five yes/no questions produce "no — I couldn't tell what you wanted until paragraph three", which is worth a band. Answer the questions as written.
Peer feedback you received
Target: 60+ words
Words: 0Not saved yet
Language bank
Tap a phrase to reveal how and when to use it.
The clearest possible request opening. If in doubt, use it.
Standard application opening. Name the exact post as advertised.
Polite request, semi-formal. Slightly softer than I would like to.
to do someone's job while they are away. Bikash has agreed to cover my reports.
written instructions left for whoever takes over your work.
to reduce the trouble caused. Excellent phrase for the third bullet of a request letter.
Acknowledges the inconvenience you are causing. Shows awareness of the reader.
Offers the reader an alternative. A mature, high-band move in a request letter.
Wrap-up
Wrap-Up & Homework
If you take one sentence from today, take this: say what you want, in words, in the first sentence. Almost every capped Task Achievement score in this module traces back to a letter that circled its purpose politely and never landed on it.
Tomorrow we leave letters behind and do Task 2 — which, reassuringly, is much closer to what the Academic students are doing.