Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-28

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 hope you are in best of spirit . I am writing this letter to inform you that I am not able attend the surprise party as I had different plan on his birthday .

Firstly, Chris is my best and I know him since childhood and I knew he gonna love these surprise from your side . As, he is buzzy with the office and he is not getting time to have fun.

I apologise that I am not able to attend the party due to my family function. My cousin is getting married on same date and as a younger brother I have to be there with him.

But, I had some different plan for him as I booked a couple of ticket to the art museum . I know Chris always wanted to visit it . But, due buzy schedule he do not go.

I hope you guys have a wonderful party.

your lovingly,

Kamal

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter covers 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 points is somewhat limited. For example, the explanation of why Chris will enjoy the party is brief and relies on simple reasoning. The tone is generally appropriate for a letter to a friend's parents, though it leans slightly informal. To improve, you should expand on your ideas with more descriptive language to better meet the requirements of a fully developed response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure of your response. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'Firstly' and 'But' to transition between ideas. However, some transitions feel mechanical or abrupt, and the logical flow between sentences could be smoother. For instance, the jump between the apology and the alternative plan is a bit sudden. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that each paragraph focuses on a single, well-connected idea would enhance the overall coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, but it is quite basic and contains several errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'buzzy' instead of 'busy' and 'best' instead of 'best friend'. There is little attempt to use less common or more sophisticated vocabulary. To achieve a higher band score, you should focus on using more precise collocations and ensuring correct spelling. Expanding your range of descriptive adjectives and adverbs would also help to make your writing more engaging and natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

There is a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence structures, but the accuracy is inconsistent. You have frequent errors in verb tense and subject-verb agreement, such as 'I know him since childhood' (should be 'have known'), 'he gonna love' (informal/incorrect grammar), and 'he do not go' (should be 'he does not go'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with spacing around commas. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to lower the score. Focusing on basic grammatical accuracy and proofreading for subject-verb agreement would be highly beneficial.

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

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