Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-30

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Your English-speaking friend who lives in your town has asked for your advice about learning a new sport. Write an email to your friend. In your email:

• recommend a new sport that would be suitable for your friend to learn
• explain how your friend could learn this sport
• suggest that you both learn this sport together

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ....................................,

 

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Mitali,

I hope you are doing well. I am happy to hear that you want to learn a new sport and seek my advice.

I think swimming would be suitable for you because it is one of the best aquatic exercise for our body and a life-saving skill. Additionally, swimming can strengthen your back and core muscles and improve lung capacity. Therefore, it will enhance your overall well-being and health. Also, you feel relief from hot summer days by swimming.

In my town, there are plenty of swimming academies teach swimming, provide basic training and course completion certificate to their students in order to take part in a swimming competition in future. You can swim independently after one week of course and training will assist you to build a confidence for developing professional career in the swimming.

In the next summer vacation, I will have 15 days holiday, it would be better if we both join swimming academies together for spending quality time after a long time. Also, I will teach you various methods of swimming during our spare time. Please let me know about your schedule, so I can arrange my holiday and take our admissions in one of the best swimming school.

I hope my suggestions will be helpful to you. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best regards,

Twinkle

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response successfully addresses all three bullet points of the prompt. You clearly recommend swimming, explain how to learn it by mentioning local academies and certification, and propose learning together. The tone is appropriate for an email to a friend, maintaining a consistent, friendly register throughout. The ideas are well-developed and relevant to the task requirements. To reach a higher band, ensure that all explanations are fully expanded; for instance, while you mention academies, adding a brief detail about the cost or the atmosphere would further enhance the development of your ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The email is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs for each requirement, and a closing. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate the different points. You use cohesive devices such as 'Additionally', 'Therefore', and 'In the next summer vacation' to link ideas. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the flow between sentences could be smoother. For example, the transition between the benefits of swimming and the local academies could be improved with a more natural linking phrase. Overall, the message is easy to follow and the progression of ideas is logical.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'aquatic exercise', 'lung capacity', and 'professional career'. There are some minor word choice inaccuracies, such as 'take our admissions' (should be 'enroll') and 'build a confidence' (should be 'build confidence'). While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, it lacks the precision and flexibility required for higher bands. Incorporating more natural collocations and idiomatic expressions would help elevate your lexical score. The spelling is generally accurate throughout the text.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'there are plenty of swimming academies teach' (should be 'that teach'), 'one of the best aquatic exercise' (should be 'exercises'), and 'developing professional career in the swimming' (should be 'in swimming'). These errors do not impede communication, but they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures while maintaining accuracy will also help you achieve a higher band.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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