Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-10

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 6.0)

Dear Mr and Mrs Collins,

Hope you are doing well, I am writing this letter to inform you that i will not come for the Chris birthday party.

I think Chris will enjoy the surprise birthday party ,because as usual he likes surprises and we all know how much he excited for his birthday. I think you would arrange some games and fun activities in party that would be more surprising for Chris.

I am apologize from you that i would not come to the party because my father will go for work meeting at another city and you know my mother is sick so we will not leave her alone at home. I am feeling bad that i couldn’t attend the chris party but i will sent best wishes for my friend.

I hope i will meet chris on new year soon and make lots of fun together.

Yours faithfully,

Manpreet

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the prompt: explaining why Chris will enjoy the party, stating why you cannot attend, and proposing an alternative meeting. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the explanation regarding why you cannot attend is a bit repetitive and lacks a natural flow. To improve, ensure that each point is expanded with more detail to fully satisfy the task requirements. While the tone is generally appropriate for a letter to friends of a friend, it lacks the polish expected for a higher band score. The purpose of the letter is clear, but the execution is basic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your points. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite limited and sometimes mechanical. For example, you rely heavily on simple sentence structures and basic conjunctions like 'because' and 'and'. There is a lack of varied linking words or transition phrases to connect your ideas more fluidly. To achieve a higher score, try to use a wider range of cohesive devices such as 'consequently', 'furthermore', or 'although' to improve the flow between sentences and paragraphs.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, but it is quite restricted and repetitive. You use basic words like 'enjoy', 'party', and 'happy' throughout the text. There are also some minor errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'I am apologize from you' instead of 'I would like to apologize to you' and 'sent best wishes' instead of 'send my best wishes'. To improve, try to incorporate more precise vocabulary and idiomatic expressions suitable for a friendly letter, and pay closer attention to verb forms and prepositions.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the letter, particularly with verb tenses and sentence construction. For example, 'i will not come for the Chris birthday party' should be 'I will not be able to attend Chris's birthday party', and 'my father will go for work meeting' should be 'my father has a work meeting'. Additionally, there are issues with punctuation and capitalization, such as the lowercase 'i' and the missing possessive apostrophe in 'Chris birthday'. While the meaning is generally clear, these errors occur frequently enough to impact the overall quality of the writing.

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

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