Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 Rutvi,

I hope you're doing well. I am writing to make a suggestion for a new sport you asked during our last conversation on a phone call. It would be the best suitable sport for you to achieve your goals in near future without putting much efforts.

Since you won a championship in your school tennis league, I suggest you try pickleball, which is a very similar sport to tennis. Moreover, the rackets and balls used in pickeball are smaller in size and easy to pick up. Additionally, you can have singles or doubles combination while playing a match.

For learning pickeball, you can use the town pickelball courts which are open from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m in summer and fall season. However, I would suggest to reach at courts early since each court is booked for only 45 minutes of playtime. Nevertheless, you can get leverages of a one week free classes offered by a local sports authority.

I am interested into playing pickeball after I watched some players enjoying it in the courts when I was walking by. Although I would like to enjoy playing pickeball with you since we both know tennis, it would be better to be in the same team. /

Let me know what the best time is suitable to meet at the centre court. I will bring up rackets and pickeballs. Cheers!

Best wishes,

Viral

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The candidate successfully covers all bullet points required by the prompt. First, a suitable sport (pickleball) is clearly recommended, drawing a logical connection to the friend's tennis background. Second, the response explains how to learn the sport by mentioning town courts, timing, and free classes. Third, the suggestion to learn together is naturally incorporated into the email. The tone is appropriately friendly and consistent with a general training task. Ideas are well developed and extended throughout, fully satisfying the requirements for a Band 7.0 performance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The email is logically organised with a clear beginning, middle paragraphs addressing specific aspects of the task, and a natural sign-off. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas such as the recommendation, the learning methods, and the joint participation. Cohesive devices are employed reasonably well, with transition words like 'Moreover', 'Additionally', and 'However' linking sentences and ideas. Although referencing is occasionally slightly repetitive or mechanical, the overall progression is clear and easy to follow, aligning closely with a Band 7 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The candidate demonstrates a sufficient vocabulary range for the task, successfully using topic-specific terms such as 'championship', 'singles or doubles combination', and 'sports authority'. There are some minor lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as writing 'pickeball' (a persistent spelling error for pickleball), 'much efforts' instead of 'much effort', and 'get leverages of' instead of 'take advantage of'. However, the vocabulary is adequate to convey the intended meaning clearly without impeding communication, fitting comfortably within Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional and subordinate clauses (e.g., 'Since you won a championship...', 'Although I would like to enjoy...'). Control over grammar is generally acceptable, though there are several noticeable errors, such as 'asked during our last conversation on a phone call' (preposition and phrasing issues), 'best suitable sport' (incorrect superlative form), and 'interested into playing' (preposition error). Despite these persistent inaccuracies, communication is rarely impeded, warranting a Band 6.0 score.

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