Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-16

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 john,

it was a great to hear from you. i am really happy that you want to learn a new sport. I think you should try badminton beacause it is easy to learn and also a great way to stay active.

There is a sport center near my house where you can join beginner classes. The coaches are friendly and will teach you the basic rules and techniques. You can practice with other beginners, which will make learning more enjoyable. badminton is also good choice beacause you do not need expensive equipment. You only need a racket, comfortable clothes and sports shoes. You can start with two or three classes a week and gradually increase your practice time.

I usually play badminton on weekends, so if you like we can go together this saturday. I am sure you will enjoy it and improve quickly.

Let me know what you think.

Best wishes,

kiran

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The candidate successfully covers all three bullet points required by the task instructions. First, a suitable sport (badminton) is clearly recommended. Second, the response explains how the friend can learn by mentioning beginner classes at a local sports center and outlining the necessary equipment. Third, it effectively suggests that they both learn together by proposing, 'so if you like we can go together this saturday.' The tone is entirely appropriate for an informal email to a friend, and all ideas are relevant and adequately developed to meet the requirements of General Training Task 1.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The email has a clear logical organisation and natural progression throughout. The writer uses standard informal letter conventions, starting with a friendly greeting and concluding appropriately. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate different ideas, such as the recommendation and learning details in the first paragraph, and the joint activity proposal in the second. Cohesive devices like 'which will make learning more enjoyable' and 'so if you like' are used accurately, though referencing and transitions are fairly basic overall, keeping it within the Band 7 range.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate and natural range of vocabulary suitable for an informal email, including terms such as 'beginner classes,' 'basic rules and techniques,' 'expensive equipment,' and 'gradually increase.' While most of the language is functional and precise enough to communicate the ideas clearly, there are a few minor spelling and capitalization errors, such as 'dear john,' 'it was a great to hear,' and repeated lowercase 'badminton' and 'i'. These minor slips in mechanics and the reliance on fairly standard everyday vocabulary place this response firmly at Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The response features a good mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'There is a sport center near my house where you can join beginner classes' and 'I usually play badminton on weekends, so if you like we can go together this saturday.' There are some minor grammatical and punctuation inaccuracies, such as missing capital letters at the beginnings of sentences ('it was a great', 'badminton is also') and the typo 'a great to hear.' However, these errors rarely impede communication and the majority of sentences are clear and well-structured, supporting a solid Band 6.5 or 7.0.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.