Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-13

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently booked a part-time course at a college. You now need to cancel your booking.

Write a letter to the college administrator. In your letter:

• say which part-time course you booked
• explain why you need to cancel your booking
• ask about booking a different course

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter to cancel the booking for the part time cooking course at a college for fall 2026. I am fond of cooking and culinary culture since childhood, It is my favourite subject to talk about. To enhance my hobby into a career and to learn it professionally, I have booked a part time course at college.

After finalizing the course, I connected with old school teacher who suggested me to do backing classes instead. She reminded me how excited I used to be during school times, while we were making Christmas cookies. In addition to, memories of baking the cookies and sharing with friends at school around holidays inspired to join the baking course instead of working in a cookery class.

I would like to request you to cancel the old course booking and enrol me in the Baking course for the fall 2026 class. Moreover, I will appreciate if you could transfer the fees to the new course enrolment.

I will appreciate your prompt reply as seats of the courses gets full very fast.

Yours Sincerely,

Dimpal.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response successfully addresses all three bullet points: identifying the cooking course, explaining the reason for cancellation (a teacher's suggestion to switch to baking), and requesting a transfer to a different course. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter. However, the development of ideas is slightly repetitive in the second paragraph, where the focus on childhood memories of baking could be more concise to allow for a more professional explanation of the request. Overall, the purpose of the letter is clear and the requirements are fully met.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate the different stages of the request. Cohesive devices such as 'In addition to', 'Moreover', and 'After finalizing' are used to link ideas. However, there are some minor issues with cohesion, such as the phrase 'In addition to,' which is used incorrectly as a sentence starter without a following noun phrase. Despite these minor mechanical errors, the progression of ideas is easy to follow throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, with some attempts at more specific terminology like 'culinary culture' and 'enrol'. However, there are some awkward collocations and word choice errors, such as 'backing classes' (likely meaning 'baking') and 'transfer the fees to the new course enrolment'. The phrase 'seats of the courses gets full' is also slightly unnatural. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the message clearly, it lacks the precision and flexibility required for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('seats... gets full') and missing articles ('at college' instead of 'at the college'). Punctuation is generally functional, though there is a comma splice in the first paragraph ('...since childhood, It is my favourite...'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication, and the meaning remains clear throughout the letter.

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

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