Applying for Volunteer Work at a Local Museum

A museum near your home is looking for people to do part-time voluntary/unpaid work. You would like to do some voluntary/unpaid work at the museum.

Write a letter to the museum director to apply for the voluntary/unpaid work. In your letter

explain why you want to do voluntary/unpaid work at the museum

describe some skills and qualities you have that would be useful

give details of when you would be available for work

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

6 sample answers, estimated Band 6.5–8.0. Your turn?

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From essays on this question

Letter points: Applying for Volunteer Work at a Local Museum

WhyThis is aFormal letter — it asks you to cover every bullet point in a formal tone.

SoWe group the points under each bullet point of the task.

Explain why you want to do voluntary/unpaid work at the museum

7 points

Describe some skills and qualities you have that would be useful

7 points

Give details of when you would be available for work

6 points

Same question · Different responses

Sample responses and feedback

Response 01

Must fixSuggested

Answer · 175 words · 1 paragraph · 14 comments

Score details

Response 01
Estimated band6.5/ 9

Overall assessment

The letter addresses the three requested points and supports its suitability with an interest in history and experience as head prefect. The start date is clear, although regular working hours would make availability more useful. Missing articles, a comma splice and the spelling of “possess” need attention. The existing line breaks mark a sensible sequence, which clearer paragraph spacing would strengthen.

TA

Task Achievement

The purpose and all three requested points are present. History studies and the head prefect role support the application, while the stated starting date is useful; regular days and hours would develop the part-time availability point further.

7.0
CC

Coherence and Cohesion

The letter follows a clear sequence of motivation, skills and availability, marked by line breaks. More visible paragraph spacing would improve navigation, and “this could be the reason” leaves the link between organisation and the head prefect appointment somewhat tentative.

6.5
LR

Lexical Resource

Vocabulary includes useful expressions such as “a stone’s throw away” and “penchant”, but “posses” is misspelled and “a decent level respect” is an awkward description of a personal quality. More specific wording for the computer skill would make the application more informative.

6.5
GRA

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Relative and conditional clauses show a range of structures, but countability and article errors recur in “a work”, “build good resume” and “have penchant”. A comma incorrectly joins the independent clauses around “administration, this”, and “seven day” needs a plural noun.

6.5

What to work on next

Proofread carefully for grammar and collocation errors, particularly comma splices and preposition or noun-phrase combinations, to make the language consistently accurate.

From essays on this question

Useful vocabulary: Applying for Volunteer Work at a Local Museum

From essays on this question

Sentence patterns: Applying for Volunteer Work at a Local Museum

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Task 1 General question loaded.
Part 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Write at least 150 words.

Words: 020:00 starts on first word