Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-21

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)

Hi James,

I hope your doing well. yesterday you asked me for advice to learn a new sport so I think about it and came on a conclusion is volleyball will be perfect sport for you . Volleyball is quite similar with badminton as you already played state level . As you have perfect height around 6.2 feet and excellent vertical jumping skills which is perfect for volleyball.

According to my opinion most easiest way, is to join a beginner level academy in the college where you can learn basic movement and techniques .One of our common friend recently join the academy for intermediate level you can ask him for tips and tricks.

Even though I am also keen interested in playing volleyball with you . Last month I watched a volleyball based anime and I love that because of that I'm also want to join in learning volleyball .Let me know what you think about it and when we going to start it .I am eagerly waiting for your response .

Yours Lovingly

Harjinder

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The candidate successfully covers all three bullet points required by the prompt in a natural, friendly tone. For the first bullet point, the writer clearly recommends volleyball, supporting this with the friend's height and state-level badminton experience. For the second point, the writer explains how to learn the sport by suggesting a beginner-level academy and consulting a mutual friend. For the third point, the writer enthusiastically proposes learning the sport together, mentioning a volleyball anime as inspiration. The tone is appropriate for an informal email to a friend. The ideas are well-developed and fulfil all task requirements effectively, earning a solid band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The email has a clear overall logical arrangement and progression. The response is divided into three functional paragraphs that correspond roughly to the introduction/recommendation, the learning method, and the joint proposal. Cohesive devices are used appropriately, such as 'According to my opinion' and 'Even though'. However, paragraphing and referencing are slightly mechanical in places, and some transitions between sentences feel a bit abrupt, such as shifting from the mutual friend to the anime. Overall, the message flows smoothly enough for the reader to follow the train of thought without difficulty, placing it comfortably in the band 6.5 to 7 range.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The candidate uses an adequate range of vocabulary for a general task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'vertical jumping skills', 'intermediate level', and 'keen interested'. However, there are some noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'your doing' instead of 'you are doing', 'came on a conclusion' instead of 'came to a conclusion', and 'common friend' instead of 'mutual friend'. Furthermore, 'keen interested' should be 'keenly interested'. Despite these slips, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the message clearly and maintain communication throughout.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and relative clauses ('Volleyball is quite similar with badminton as you already played state level'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the text. Examples include 'yesterday you asked me for advice to learn' (missing capitalization and preposition issues), 'is volleyball will be perfect' (double verb structure), and 'I'm also want to join' (tense/verb form error). Punctuation is also weak, with missing apostrophes ('I hope your doing') and extra spaces before periods. These errors reflect a typical band 6 profile where grammar is mixed in accuracy.

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

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