General Training Task 1: getting the register right

General Training Task 1 gives you a situation and three bullet points, and asks for at least 150 words in twenty minutes. Almost everything that goes wrong here is avoidable.

Three registers, and the greeting decides

Formal — you do not know the recipient. The prompt says "Dear Sir or Madam". Close with Yours faithfully. No contractions, no phrasal verbs where a plainer verb exists, no exclamation marks.

Semi-formal — you know the recipient in a professional capacity: a manager, a landlord, a college tutor. The prompt gives a name. Close with Yours sincerely.

Informal — a friend or family member. First name only. Close with Best wishes or similar. Contractions are correct here, and being too stiff is as much an error as being too casual in a formal letter.

The pairing is fixed: Sir or Madam → faithfully, named person → sincerely. Examiners notice.

Cover all three bullets, in order

Task Achievement is capped if a bullet is missed, no matter how good the rest is. Write one paragraph per bullet and the problem disappears.

The third bullet is usually the one that carries the letter — what you want done, how the absence would be covered, what you suggest. Candidates rush it because they are running out of words, which is exactly backwards.

Detail is the difference

The whole gap between Band 6 and Band 7 in Task 1 is specificity. Compare "the item was damaged" with "one leg was cracked and the surface was scratched along one edge". Same bullet, different band. Invent a date, an order number, a name — the situation is fictional and the examiner knows it.

Length

150 words is a minimum, not a target. Aim for 170–190. Under 150 is penalised; going far over wastes time you need for Task 2, which is worth twice as much.