Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-24
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,
I am writing this letter to explain you the reason why, I am not able to attend Chris's birthday party. First and foremost, many happy to the return of special the day. I am sure, Chris will enjoy that party because he is always exited for his birthday and he admires surprise planning.
However, I am not able to attend his birthday party, due to the major eye surgery during that week. As you know, I have several problems with vision since my childhood and my operation is only possible after the age of 18. Moreover, I hardy got slot of doctor, who is specialist.
Moving forward, I have other plans for my best friend, once, my eyes are cured, I planned a trip to blue mountain because he is mountain person and always enjoyed all the activities over there. Not only the weather is nice on that time but also we will be off from our college on that time.
I hope you will understand the reason behind not coming and allow us to celebrate it on some other time.
With love
Navjeet Kaur.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5
You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task. You explained why Chris would enjoy the party, provided a clear reason for your absence, and proposed an alternative plan to meet him. The tone is generally appropriate for a letter to a friend's parents. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited by grammatical errors, which occasionally make the meaning slightly harder to follow. To improve, ensure that you fully expand on your ideas with more natural phrasing to better convey your enthusiasm and sincerity.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your train of thought. You use some cohesive devices like 'First and foremost', 'However', and 'Moreover' to link your ideas. However, some of these transitions feel slightly mechanical or are used incorrectly, such as 'Moving forward' to introduce a personal plan. Additionally, the flow between sentences is sometimes disrupted by awkward phrasing. Improving the variety of your linking words and ensuring they are used in the correct context will help your writing feel more natural and cohesive.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to communicate your message, but there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors. For example, 'many happy to the return of special the day' is non-standard, and 'hardy got slot of doctor' is unclear. You also use 'exited' instead of 'excited' and 'mountain person' is a bit informal. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise collocations and ensure that your word choices are accurate and appropriate for the context of a formal-friendly letter.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
Your writing shows an attempt to use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Issues include incorrect article usage ('the blue mountain'), subject-verb agreement, and awkward sentence construction, such as 'I am writing this letter to explain you the reason why, I am not able to attend'. Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma placement. While these errors do not completely prevent communication, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall clarity of your writing. Focus on mastering basic sentence patterns before attempting more complex structures.
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.