Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-04

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 kane,

I hope this letter finds you well. I'm writing to inform you bring to your notice that i wouldn't not be able to attend the birthday party as we discussed earlier this month.

My presence would have made the occasion so much fun as it were last August, it was indeed a memorable time staying with you family once more this year. I would have taking him to swimming pool to try swimming for the first time in his life, which would have created a vert sweet memory fir 31st birthday celebration.

I could have made it to the party but my grandmother became ill and you know am the youngest child i was asked to stay with her and assist her with some things like doing her laundry, making sure she take her medication on time, preparing her meals as well as shopping.

It's so unfortunate that i wouldn't be able to come for the party. i will make it up to you in December when i visit my uncle again in Australia.

I would be happy if you share his birthday photos to e so that i can share on my social media platform.

Yours Truly

Micheal

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task. You explained why Chris would enjoy the party, provided a reason for your absence, and suggested a future meeting. However, there is a significant issue with the salutation. The prompt explicitly instructed you to begin with 'Dear Mr and Mrs Collins,' but you addressed the letter to 'Dear kane'. This failure to follow the specific instruction provided in the prompt impacts the task achievement score. Additionally, while the ideas are relevant, the development is slightly repetitive in the second and third paragraphs regarding your personal circumstances.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the flow between ideas is sometimes disjointed. For instance, the transition between the second paragraph (about the swimming pool) and the third paragraph (about your grandmother) is abrupt. You use some cohesive devices like 'It's so unfortunate that' and 'I would be happy if', but the overall progression is occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing and inconsistent referencing. The logical connection between your inability to attend and the proposed visit in December is clear, but the internal structure of the paragraphs could be more cohesive.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your message, but there are several instances of imprecise word choice and collocation errors. For example, 'bring to your notice' is overly formal for a letter to a friend's parents, and 'vert sweet memory' contains a spelling error. Phrases like 'make it up to you' are appropriate for the context, but the overall lexical control is inconsistent. You rely on basic vocabulary for the most part, and the errors in word choice occasionally draw attention to themselves, though they do not prevent the reader from understanding your meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

Your writing contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that affect the accuracy of your response. Examples include 'i wouldn't not be able to' (double negative), 'as we discussed' (tense inconsistency), 'you family' (missing possessive 'your'), and 'I would have taking' (incorrect verb form). Additionally, there are punctuation and capitalization issues, such as the lowercase 'i' used throughout the text. While these errors rarely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher band score. You need to focus on subject-verb agreement and consistent verb tense usage.

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

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