General Training Writing Task 1 · formal · other

Formal Letter of Resignation to Current Manager

You work for a company and have recently decided to leave your current employment.

Write a letter to your employer. In your letter:

explain why you are writing
explain why you have decided to leave the company
tell your employer what you plan to do after leaving your present employment

Write at least 150 words. You do not need to write any addresses. Begin your letter: Dear ...,

Band 8 sample letter

Dear Mr. Henderson,

Please accept this letter as formal notification that I am resigning from my position as Senior Project Coordinator at Zenith Solutions. My final day of employment will be Friday, 25 October.

This has been a difficult decision to reach, as I have genuinely enjoyed my four years with the organisation. However, I have recently decided to pursue a new challenge that aligns more closely with my long-term career objectives. I feel that now is the appropriate time to transition into a role that focuses specifically on sustainable urban planning, a field I am increasingly passionate about.

Regarding my future plans, I have accepted an offer from a consultancy firm that specialises in green infrastructure projects. This transition will allow me to apply my project management skills within a sector that is central to my professional interests. I am eager to contribute to their upcoming initiatives and continue my development in this niche area.

I am fully committed to ensuring a smooth handover during my remaining time here. Please let me know how I can best assist in training my successor or finalising outstanding reports.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Thorne

191 words. Names and details are invented; write your own.

Why this scores well

A Band 8 response addresses all three bullet points with a professional, consistent tone and clear, logical paragraph structure. The most common Band 6 mistake is failing to provide a specific future plan, instead offering only vague statements like 'I want to do something else'.

Write to an organisation or someone you do not know: open with Dear Sir or Madam, close with Yours faithfully.
If you know the person's surname, use Dear Mr or Ms and close with Yours sincerely.
No contractions, no slang; polite indirect requests such as I would be grateful if you could.

Useful phrases from the letter

formal notification: an official way of telling someone important news
aligns: matches or is in agreement with something else
transition: the process of changing from one state position
niche area: a specialised section of a market or field
handover: passing responsibilities to another person before leaving
outstanding: work or tasks that are not yet finished

Write your own and get a band

Answer this prompt in a timed General Training writing test and get a band for task achievement, coherence, vocabulary and grammar, with the sentences to fix.

Practise IELTS General writing

On your phone? Get the BandLadder app.

Frequently asked questions

Is this letter formal or informal?

Formal. Write to an organisation or someone you do not know: open with Dear Sir or Madam, close with Yours faithfully.

How long should an IELTS General Training letter be?

At least 150 words, and 160 to 200 is the comfortable range. Spend about 20 minutes on it and leave 40 for Task 2, which carries twice the marks.