Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-02

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 both doing well. Thank you very much for inviting me on Chris surprise birthday part. I am sure he will really enjoy it because he loves the surprise birthday parties and love to spend time with family and friends.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend this party because I have an important exam in my university and I am so afraid about this exam its so difficult for me because I also do some preparation for my exam.I am really disappointed to miss such a speacial occassion.

However, I would love to meet Chris at another time. I am planning to visit the Australia next month, and I could arrange the surprise dinner with him. We could go to his favoruite restaurant to have dinner.

Thank you for thinking of me and I am very greatful.

Best wishes.

Ritika

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task satisfactorily, fulfilling the baseline requirements for a letter of this type. You successfully mentioned why Chris will enjoy the surprise party by noting his love for family and friends, explained your absence due to university exams, and provided a plan to see him later by visiting Australia. However, the development of these points leans towards the general side. For instance, the explanation regarding the exam and your preparation is somewhat repetitive and lacks deeper extension, and the plan to visit Australia is stated quite simply without elaborating on specific dates or contexts. To move towards a higher band, you need to extend and fully develop all your ideas with richer details and more nuanced explanations, ensuring that every bullet point is explored thoroughly rather than just superficially covered.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter demonstrates a clear overall progression and coherent arrangement of ideas. Your letter is divided into appropriate paragraphs, with each paragraph focusing on a distinct aspect of the prompt: expressing enthusiasm for the party, explaining your absence, outlining future plans, and closing politely. You make use of standard cohesive devices such as 'Unfortunately', 'However', and 'Thank you', which guide the reader smoothly through your message. While the referencing and paragraphing work well to maintain clarity, cohesion feels slightly mechanical at times due to predictable transitions. To achieve an even higher level, you could employ a more flexible and varied range of cohesive features and subtler referencing, ensuring the flow between sentences and paragraphs feels entirely natural and unobtrusive.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, providing enough range to communicate your message clearly. You attempt some less common items and descriptive phrases, such as 'surprise birthday party', 'speacial occassion', and 'greatful'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors, such as 'speacial' and 'greatful', along with minor word-choice and collocation slips, like writing 'on Chris surprise birthday part' instead of 'at Chris's surprise birthday party' and 'in my university' instead of 'at my university'. These errors do not impede communication, placing your lexical performance right at the threshold of adequacy for this level. To reach a higher band, you need to use a wider, more precise range of vocabulary, improve your control over word forms and collocations, and eliminate spelling inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms throughout the letter, successfully using structures like conditional-leaning clauses and relative structures. There are several error-free sentences, such as 'I hope you are both doing well' and 'I would love to meet Chris at another time.' Nevertheless, some errors in grammar and punctuation persist, such as run-on structures ('...difficult for me because I also do some preparation for my exam.I am really...'), missing possessive apostrophes ('Chris surprise'), and unnecessary articles or prepositions. These errors rarely impede communication, but they highlight a lack of consistent grammatical control. To improve further, you should aim for a higher proportion of error-free complex sentences, pay closer attention to punctuation boundaries, and refine your control over tense consistency and prepositions.

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

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