Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-25

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,

Thank you very much for inviting me for surprise birthday party of chris .I am sure chris will enjoy that party well because of not knowing the surprise birthday party organised by you also he will enjoy because of he loves spending time with friends and family.since he has no idea about celebration,the surprise element will make the occasion even more special and memorable for him.

Unfortunately,I will not be able to attend the party because I have important business metting with one of the international client on same day that cannot be postponed.I am trully disappointed to miss the such wonderfull event.

However, I have already made plans to meet chris the following wekkend.I am planing to take chris out for lunch at his favorite restaurant and give hime a birthday gift in person.this will also give us an opportunity to spend some quality time together and celebrate his birthday properly.

Please pass on my best wishes to chris,and I hope that party is great sucess.

Yours sincerely,

Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response effectively covers all three bullet points required in the prompt. You successfully explained why Chris will enjoy the party, noting both the surprise element and his love for spending time with family and friends. You provided a clear reason for your absence by mentioning an important business meeting with an international client that cannot be postponed. Furthermore, you outlined a detailed and logical plan to see Chris during the following weekend by taking him out for lunch at his favorite restaurant and presenting his gift. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend's parents. Overall, the task is fully addressed with well-developed ideas, fulfilling all requirements of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter exhibits a clear overall structure with an appropriate opening and sign-off, and it is divided into logical paragraphs that each address a different part of the prompt. Cohesive devices such as 'Unfortunately', 'However', and 'this will also' are used to guide the reader through the letter. While referencing is generally clear, paragraphing and sentence boundaries occasionally suffer from punctuation oversights, such as missing spaces after commas and periods (e.g., 'chris .I', 'Unfortunately,I'). Despite these minor mechanical issues, the progression of ideas is logical and easy to follow throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for a general correspondence task, successfully conveying the intended message. You attempted some less common phrasing, such as 'surprise element', 'business meeting', and 'quality time'. However, there are notable limitations and lexical errors, such as 'metting' instead of meeting, 'trully' instead of truly, and 'wonderfull' instead of wonderful. Additionally, some collocations could be more natural, such as 'international client' where pluralization might vary. The range is sufficient to communicate clearly, but persistent spelling errors and basic vocabulary choices prevent a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional and causal clauses using 'because' and 'since'. However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text. These include missing capitalization for proper nouns ('chris', 'patel'), capitalization errors at the start of sentences following periods, and minor preposition or article slips (e.g., 'miss the such wonderfull event', 'hope that party is great sucess'). While these errors do not impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to restrict the score to a solid Band 6.

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