Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-12

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 6.5)

Dear Mr and Mrs Collins,

I hope your both are doing great. I am writing in response to the birthday party's invitation of my closest friend which is going to be celebrate in the midlle of this month and I am glad that you are celebrating his eighteenth birthday which is a major milestone.

You have selected Iphone as custumised themed party which is one of the latest trends and I am sure he will be overwhelmed with joy because he was always fascinated about Iphones and he wanted to own it in real. Additionally, being his best friend I would recommend you to add some fun activities which could be a musical show featuring his favourite singer. Furthermore, I would recommand you to add a seperate sweet corner as he really loves desserts and triffles.

I want to inform you that, I will not be able to attend this celebration as my annual examination is scheduled in the middle of this month and they are compulsory for my promotion. I am busy in their preparation, however, I have plans to meet Chirs at my first priority.

You will be pleased to hear that, in the beggining of next month I will be visting your city and I have plans to stay at your place for two days. I want your suggestions regarding the top visting points as I would prefer to explore the beauty of your area.

Waiting to meet you soon.

Yours sincerely,

John Ellen.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You successfully covered all bullet points required by the task prompt. First, you explained why Chris will enjoy the party, suggesting he will be overwhelmed with joy due to his fascination with iPhones, and even added thoughtful party ideas like a musical show and a sweet corner. Second, you clearly explained why you cannot attend by mentioning your compulsory annual examinations scheduled in the middle of the month. Third, you provided details of a plan to see Chris at a different time by stating that you will visit his city at the beginning of next month, stay at his place for two days, and explore local sightseeing points. The tone is appropriately friendly and polite for a letter to a friend's parents. However, some minor details in the first paragraph are slightly convoluted, but overall the communicative purpose is fully achieved.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

Your letter has a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. You used standard and appropriate greeting and sign-off formulas suitable for a semi-formal letter. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate distinct points, such as the party enjoyment and suggestions in paragraph two, the reason for absence in paragraph three, and future plans in paragraph four. Cohesive devices are generally used well, with connectors like 'Additionally', 'Furthermore', and 'However' employed to guide the reader through your ideas. While referencing is mostly clear, a minor slip occurs with 'they' in the sentence 'they are compulsory', where the antecedent 'examination' is singular, but this does not disrupt the overall flow or coherence of your letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrated an adequate to good range of vocabulary suited to a personal letter, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'overwhelmed with joy', 'milestone', and 'compulsory'. However, there are several noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text. For instance, 'midlle' should be 'middle', 'celebrate' should be 'celebrated', 'custumised' should be 'customized', 'recommand' should be 'recommend', 'seperate' should be 'separate', 'beggining' should be 'beginning', and 'visting' should be 'visiting'. Additionally, phrases like 'Iphone as custumised themed party' and 'meet Chirs at my first priority' sound slightly unnatural. These lexical slips and spelling mistakes prevent the vocabulary score from reaching a higher band, though communication is never severely impeded.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrated a reasonable mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating subordinate clauses effectively, such as in 'I am glad that you are celebrating his eighteenth birthday which is a major milestone' and 'I will not be able to attend this celebration as my annual examination is scheduled...'. However, there are several grammatical errors and punctuation slips present. For example, you wrote 'I hope your both are doing great' instead of 'you both', and placed unnecessary commas before conjunctions and relative clauses, such as 'I want to inform you that, I will not be able to attend...'. There is also a subject-verb agreement lapse with 'examination' being referred to by 'they'. Despite these errors, the majority of sentences are understandable, and complex structures are attempted with varying degrees of success.

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

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