Cancelling a Part-Time College Course Booking

You recently booked a part-time course at a college. You now need to cancel your booking. Write a letter to the college administrator. In your letter • say which part-time course you booked • explain why you need to cancel your booking • ask about booking a different course You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Sir or Madam,

Annotated response

4 correction notes

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Charley Sanders, and I am writing this letter to cancel my enrollment in a part-time course at your college which I was planning to take this coming summer. Please let me explain

The course, in which I enrolled as a part-time student, is called “Digital Photography”, and it was to be finished within three months from the date of its commencement. To tell the truth, I was quite excited about completing this short course until my company asked me to work full-time this coming summer. In case you are wondering, I am currently working as a part-time employee at a ready-made garments factory as a Quality Assurance Associate, and if I start working as a full-time employee, I have enough time to carry on with the course. In other words, a conflict in my schedule is what is forcing me to cancel this course.

I can book another course after my working hours, and if that is an option, I would be more than happy to be enrolled in a computer networking course.

Thanks for being so understanding.

Yours faithfully,

Charley Sanders

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 8.0

The letter fulfils all three bullet points with clear, well-developed detail and an appropriately polite register throughout. Its strongest aspect is the natural, controlled language, while the main limitation is a somewhat conversational, slightly padded style that occasionally dilutes the directness expected of a formal cancellation request.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

Task Achievement

8.0

All three prompt bullets are fully covered with relevant developed detail, a consistently appropriate formal tone, and a clear communicative purpose.

Coherence and Cohesion

7.5

Ideas progress logically across well-organised paragraphs with good cohesive devices, though occasional conversational transitions such as 'But,' slightly reduce formality and directness.

Lexical Resource

8.0

Vocabulary is flexible and precise, including natural idiomatic expressions such as 'more than happy' and topic-appropriate terms like 'enrollment' and 'commencement'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

8.0

A wide range of complex structures, including relative clauses and conditionals, is used accurately with only rare minor slips.

More responses with feedback

View all 5 responses (7.5–8.0)