Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-30

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,

Hey! How are you both? I'm really glad and excited that we all are going to organise a surprise party for Chris on her 25th birthday .

Firstly, I ordered new launched Iphone 18 for her as a birthday present as she is a content creater this helps her to post excelllent quality of new pictures and videos on her social media account. Apart from this, we book her favorite restaurant which has live singer performance she will definitely enjoy .

I apologised because I am not able to attend the party due to my biology examination in the college. However, I wrote an email to the professor but college is not permitted to give holiday on the exam day.

Lastly, I promised to you that next month i will surely come and we both will go on vacation to Toronto at that time.

I'm looking forward to know more about your planning. Please do write to me.

Yours lovingly,

Tim

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address all three required points: you explain that Chris may enjoy the restaurant and live music, give your biology examination as the reason you cannot attend, and suggest meeting next month for a trip to Toronto. The reasons are relevant, but some are not fully developed or clearly framed. For example, the new phone is described as a gift that will help Chris post pictures, but you could explain more directly why the surprise itself will delight her. The Toronto plan is also quite broad; proposing a specific date or activity would make it more convincing. The opening says “we all are going to organise” the party, which makes your role in the surprise unclear. Develop these details and keep the letter’s purpose clear throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a coherent overall arrangement: you begin with a greeting, discuss the party and gift, explain your absence, and then suggest another meeting. Paragraph breaks help the reader follow these different points, and signposts such as “Firstly,” “However,” and “Lastly” make the sequence visible. Some linking is mechanical, though, and the opening moves quickly from greeting to organising the party without a clear transition. The final request to hear about the planning is relevant, but it could connect more smoothly to your apology and alternative plan. Use a few more natural links between ideas and ensure references such as “we all” and “we both” clearly identify who is involved.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for a personal letter, including relevant terms such as “surprise party,” “birthday present,” “live singer performance,” and “biology examination.” There are also attempts at more specific language, such as describing Chris as a content creator and mentioning social media. However, several word choices, collocations, and spellings are inaccurate, including “new launched,” “content creater,” “excelllent,” and “live singer performance.” These do not prevent the reader from understanding your main message, but they reduce precision and naturalness. Choose familiar, accurate combinations—for example, “newly released phone” and “live music”—and proofread spelling. A more natural range of expressions would make the letter sound more fluent and polished.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple sentences and some longer structures, including the explanation that the phone will help Chris post pictures and videos. The main ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors occur in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction. For instance, “we book her favorite restaurant” needs a past-tense form, while “I apologised because I am not able to attend” would be clearer with consistent tense. In “I promised to you that next month i will surely come,” the verb pattern and capitalization need correction. There are also punctuation and spacing slips, such as the space before the full stop after “birthday.” Review tense consistency and common verb patterns, then check each sentence for accurate punctuation.

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