Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-25

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 Health and Safety part time course at Durham College. I booked the course for coming September due to my personal reason I won't make it.

The course I supposed to enroll is health and safety specialized on construction and healthcare. I am attending the university post graduation degree full time and working part time at Ripple Engineering as a safety assistant so I don't have enough time to attend the another course this year. In addition to that I am supporting my family financially so I am tight on budget recently.

I might take a different course most probably Occupational Hazard Management because this field is closely associated with what I am doing right now. I will send you all necessary documents with booking fee for this short duration course.

Thank you for understanding this matter, let me know if you need any other documents and information.

Yours Sincerely,

Keshav

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The letter successfully addresses all three bullet points required by the prompt. You clearly identify the course, provide a logical reason for cancellation (work and study commitments), and inquire about an alternative course. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter to an administrator. To reach a higher band, ensure that the connection between your reasons is more fluid. For example, the transition between your financial situation and your academic workload could be more explicitly linked to your decision to cancel. Overall, the response is well-focused and meets all requirements of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized into distinct paragraphs, each serving a specific purpose. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'In addition to that' and 'because', to link ideas. However, the progression between sentences is occasionally slightly disjointed, particularly in the opening paragraph where the sentence 'I booked the course for coming September due to my personal reason I won't make it' lacks a clear cohesive link. Improving the use of transition words and ensuring smoother sentence-to-sentence flow would enhance the overall coherence of the letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'enroll', 'specialized', and 'associated'. There are some minor inaccuracies, such as 'tight on budget' (should be 'tight budget' or 'on a tight budget') and 'the another course' (should be 'another course'). While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, it lacks the precision and variety required for a higher band. Incorporating more sophisticated collocations related to academic or professional contexts would improve your score in this criterion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this task. However, there are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text, such as 'The course I supposed to enroll is' (should be 'The course I was supposed to enroll in is') and 'due to my personal reason I won't make it' (which is a run-on sentence). While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and correct preposition usage will help improve your accuracy.

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

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