Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-05

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,

I am writing to request you to withdraw my name from the course that I had enroll which is due to begin on 12th October. I enrolled in a culinary class at our Doon campus and my booking reference is C7927.

Unfortunately, my employer changed my schedule at last moment and now I will be get off around 7PM from work, so that make me hard to attend classes in-person and I don't want to keep this place reserve and waste a place that another student could use.

I paid about 360$ for this course so I am not asking for refund for this course but instead if you can suggest me some better alternative course which can help me and I can easily accomodate with my work schedule. I am more than happy to enroll in new course.

I would appreciate it if this could be handled promptly. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your response.

Your Faithfully,

Varshil

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the bulleted prompt. The candidate clearly identifies the part-time culinary class and the booking reference C7927, explains the scheduling conflict caused by an employer change, and appropriately asks about booking a different alternative course. The purpose of the letter is clear throughout, and the tone is generally polite and appropriate for a college administrator. However, some ideas show a slight tendency towards over-generalisation or minor lack of full extension, such as the explanation regarding the work schedule. While all requirements are met thoroughly, a slightly more detailed exploration of the preferred alternative course type would push this closer to complete development.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

There is a clear logical organisation and progression throughout the letter, moving from the statement of purpose and course details to the reason for cancellation, the request for alternatives, and finally closing remarks. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, separating distinct points into logical blocks. Cohesive devices are employed with reasonable flexibility, such as using 'Unfortunately', 'instead if you can', and referencing expressions effectively. Although referencing and linking are generally clear, occasional slightly mechanical transitions prevent the flow from achieving complete naturalness. Overall arrangement is coherent and easy for the reader to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The candidate displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating meaning. There are attempts to use less common items and functional phrases, such as 'withdraw my name', 'booking reference', and 'handled promptly'. However, there are some noticeable word choice, word form, and collocation errors that reflect this band level, such as writing 'culinary class' instead of 'culinary course' or phrasing like 'keep this place reserve' instead of 'reserved'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but minor lexical slips occur, such as the slight awkwardness in phrasing when discussing course alternatives, though these do not significantly impede overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses connected by conjunctions like 'so that make me hard' and relative clauses. There are some grammatical errors in sentence structures, verb forms, and prepositions inside patterns, such as 'that I had enroll which is due' (tense and relative pronoun issues) and 'now I will be get off' (incorrect verb form). Punctuation and articles also contain occasional minor slips. Nonetheless, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to easily grasp the intended meaning throughout the letter.

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

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