Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-11

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 to request a cancellation of my recent enrolment at your college. My booking ID is [redacted phone].

Yesterday, I enrolled myself to an Advanced Accounting course(code:3061); however, I supposed to book a different one. While booking, the website has been crashed for a few minutes, and I ended up by registering a comletely different course.

By the time I realised, it was too late to cancel the booking by my side. On my receipt, it says I need to inform the office in order to cancel the existing booking. Since my preferred subject was different than the current one, I would formally ask you to discard my current booking.

I would appreciate it if you could register me for the Economics course(code:4555) which is a full-time programme. I am readily available to provide you the further information upon requirement.

I look forward to your prompt response.

Yours faithfully,

Rutvi Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You address all three requirements: you identify the Advanced Accounting course and booking ID, explain that a website problem led to the wrong enrolment, and request a place on Economics. The purpose is clear throughout, and the explanation about being unable to cancel online gives useful context. The request to change courses is also explicit. To make the response more fully developed, clarify whether you want the college to cancel the existing booking and transfer your payment or whether you are asking to make a separate booking; this is especially relevant because Economics is described as full-time. A brief question about availability or any fee difference would make the final request more complete and practical.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter follows a clear progression: it opens with the cancellation request, explains the booking error, refers to the receipt’s instructions, and then asks about Economics. Paragraphing supports these stages, and linking expressions such as “however,” “By the time,” and “Since” help show the relationships between ideas. The closing is appropriate for a formal letter. Some connections could be made more precise: “By the time I realised” does not specify what had become too late, and the shift from requesting cancellation to asking to be registered on a different course could be signposted as a transfer request. Clarifying that relationship would make the progression even smoother.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of formal and task-relevant vocabulary, including “request a cancellation,” “enrolment,” “preferred subject,” and “prompt response.” These choices make the purpose understandable and suit a letter to an administrator. However, some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “enrolled myself to,” “ended up by registering,” and “discard my current booking.” There is also a spelling error in “comletely.” Prefer conventional expressions such as “enrolled in,” “ended up registering,” and “cancel my current booking.” More precise wording for the requested change, such as “transfer my booking,” would also help distinguish cancellation from re-enrolment.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response includes both simple sentences and more complex forms, for example the clause beginning “While booking” and the conditional structure “I would appreciate it if you could register me.” Meaning remains clear, but some grammatical errors occur. In “I supposed to book,” the auxiliary “was” is needed; “the website has been crashed” uses an incorrect tense and passive construction; and “By the time I realised, it was too late to cancel the booking by my side” has an unclear grammatical relationship between the clauses. There are also missing spaces before the course-code parentheses. Review auxiliary verbs, tense choice, and clause construction, then proofread punctuation and spacing to improve accuracy while retaining this range of sentence forms.

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

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