Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-03

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 doing well!

Fisrt of all I want to thank you to consider me inviting at Chris's surprise birthday party. It is a great idea to plan such a big event at his birthday. I know how much he love surprises. He always want something exciting and big on his special day and that coming from his parents is a great thing for him. I found the content of your letter very emotional and touching where you mentioned that Mrs Collins herself will be baking birthday cake for him, he will definitely going to love it. The surprise party is really a good plan, he will enjoy it.

As much as I am excited and want to be there at the party, but unfortunately, I won't be able to attend it as my cousin will be visiting to spend his vacations with me a day before Chris's birthday. He will be staying here for a week.

However, I am planning to meet Chris in second week of the month at your house if you are comfortable with it. I know Chris will not like it that I will be not coming to the party but I'll make upto him when I meet him.

Thanks once again and take care.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your letter successfully addresses all bullet points of the prompt, establishing an appropriate friendly tone suitable for a letter to your friend's parents. You clearly explain why Chris will enjoy the surprise, mentioning his love for big events and his mother's baking. You also provide a solid reason for your absence due to a visiting cousin and outline a future plan to visit in the second week of the month. However, some ideas remain slightly under-developed rather than fully extended, which is characteristic of this level. For instance, while you mention that your cousin is staying for a week, expanding slightly more on your schedule could have added better depth. To move towards higher bands, ensure every point is thoroughly elaborated with smooth supporting details without drifting from the main purpose.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure that separates the greeting, the main discussion of the party, your inability to attend, your alternative plan, and the sign-off. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'However' and 'As much as I am excited' to link ideas together. However, cohesion is sometimes a bit mechanical or repetitive in transitions. The referencing is generally clear, but the flow between sentences could be smoother. To achieve a higher band, you should incorporate a wider variety of cohesive devices more naturally and ensure that the progression of ideas from paragraph to paragraph feels entirely seamless and unobtrusive.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using informal expressions suitable for friends of a friend, such as 'surprise birthday party', 'touching', and 'vacations'. However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors that prevent a higher score, such as 'Fisrt' instead of 'First', 'thank you to consider me inviting' instead of 'thank you for inviting me' or 'considering me', and 'he will definitely going to love it' which contains phrasing issues. You also write 'birthday cake' missing the article 'a'. To reach the next band, you need to use a wider range of less common lexical items with greater precision and eliminate basic spelling and collocation errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

Your writing displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating your ability to construct compound and subordinate clauses such as in 'I know how much he love surprises' and 'I am planning to meet Chris in second week of the month at your house if you are comfortable with it.' There are, however, some grammatical errors present, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('he love' instead of 'he loves', 'always want' instead of 'always wants'), missing prepositions or articles ('in second week' instead of 'in the second week'), and awkward verb constructions ('he will definitely going to love it'). These errors do not impede communication, but they occur with enough frequency to keep the grammar score at this level. To improve, focus on polishing verb tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and article usage.

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

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