Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The parents of your Australian friend Chris have invited you to a surprise birthday party for him/her. Write a letter to Chris's parents. In your letter:

• say why you think Chris will enjoy the surprise party
• explain why you won't be able to attend the party
• give details of a plan to see Chris at a different time

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Mr and Mrs Collins,

Student answer (Band 7.0)

Dear Mr. and Mrs Collins,

Hope you're doing well. I am extremely grateful for the invitation for the surprise celebration for Mohit's birthday.

Undoubtfully, he would love the surprise party for his special day as he enjoys suspense and different exciting activities since his childhood. I am pretty sure that he gonna enjoy the company of his family and friends by playing fun games with them.

Unfortunately, I am unable to attend this occasion, since I have my final board exams of final years during that week without a single day off. Owing to long distance, I won't attend the celebration and will prepare for my examinations.

However, I am planning to have dinner with him at his favorite restaurant in your city during my visit on upcoming long weekend. Not only this, I also plan a little surprise for me to make him feel special.

Thank you for your understanding. I will catch with you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Manju

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.5

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You clearly explained why Chris would enjoy the surprise, provided a valid reason for your absence, and proposed a concrete plan to meet him later. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend's parents, maintaining a polite and appreciative register throughout. The ideas are relevant and well-developed, ensuring the reader understands your situation and your intentions. To reach a higher band, ensure that all details are consistent; for instance, you mentioned 'Mohit' in the body but the prompt specified 'Chris', which is a minor inconsistency that could be avoided with careful proofreading.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organized with a clear progression of ideas. Each paragraph focuses on a specific requirement of the task, which makes the letter easy to follow. You have used some cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Owing to', and 'Not only this' to link your sentences. While the flow is generally good, some transitions could be more natural. For example, the shift between the reason for not attending and the plan to meet later is clear, but the paragraphing could be slightly more balanced to ensure a smoother transition between the apology and the alternative proposal.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your message clearly. Phrases like 'extremely grateful', 'special day', and 'catch up with you' are appropriate for this context. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'Undoubtfully' (should be 'Undoubtedly') and 'I also plan a little surprise for me' (should be 'for him'). These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of your writing. To improve, focus on using more sophisticated collocations and ensuring that word forms are used correctly in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is good. There are, however, several grammatical slips that occur throughout the text. For instance, 'he gonna enjoy' is informal and grammatically incorrect (should be 'he is going to enjoy'), and 'final board exams of final years' is slightly redundant. Additionally, 'I will catch with you' is missing the word 'up'. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your meaning, they indicate a need for more careful attention to verb forms, prepositions, and sentence construction to achieve a higher band score.

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

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