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 propose for a new sport you asked about during our last conversation on the phone. It would be the most suitable sport for you to achieve your goals in the 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 response covers all bullet points of the task clearly and appropriately. You successfully recommend a new sport, pickleball, noting its similarities to tennis. You explain how your friend can learn the sport by mentioning town courts, opening hours, and free classes. Finally, you suggest that you both learn the sport together and be on the same team. The tone is suitably friendly and informal for a general training email to a friend. All parts are well-developed and fulfil the communicative purpose effectively, warranting a solid band 7.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The email has a clear logical organization with distinct paragraphs for introducing the topic, explaining the sport and learning methods, proposing to play together, and signing off. Cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'Additionally', and 'However' are used to connect ideas, though some transitions are slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately throughout the letter. The progression of ideas is smooth and easy to follow, making this performance fit comfortably into the band 7.0 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate and functional range of vocabulary for the task, using terms related to sports and leisure like 'championship', 'singles or doubles combination', and 'playtime'. However, there are some noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'propose for a new sport' instead of 'propose a new sport', 'without putting much efforts' instead of 'effort', and repeated spelling slips like 'pickeball' instead of 'pickleball'. Despite these occasional errors, communication is never impeded, placing your lexical resource at band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional and relative clauses (e.g., 'Since you won a championship...', 'which is a very similar sport...'). There are some grammatical errors and awkward prepositions, such as 'interested into playing' instead of 'interested in playing' and 'bring up rackets' instead of 'bring rackets'. Punctuation and sentence boundaries are generally well controlled. Because the mix of structures is good and errors rarely impede understanding, this earns a band 6.5.

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.