Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-11

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You are planning a business trip to another city. You will have some free time to do some sightseeing while you are there.
 

Write a letter to a friend who lives in the city you will visit. In your letter:
• explain the purpose of the trip.
• ask about things to do and see in the city.
• invite your friend to do something with you during your visit.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ____

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Simar,

I hope this letter finds you in the spirits. Actually I'm going to plan a business trip to Montreal coming next month, and you will be delighted to know that I will have plenty of time to explore the city as well.

This trip was organized by my company to expand the business, and to do collaboration with other firms. Since there will be 2 meetings scheduled by the company, I hope I will get rest time for myself in the new place.

However, there are number of places where I would like to visit in my leisure time. Firstly, there is a place named Notre Dame church, which looks quite fascinated, and I would love to visit there. Moreover, I would like to explore this vibrant city, because I have heard a lot from my colleague who recently visited there.

I am also thinking about planning a movie night for both of us, we can spend some time to enjoy it. Also we can go outside for the dinner, there are numerous Indian restaurants, where we can enjoy our traditional food.

I hope you will like this plan. I'm so excited to meet you.

With love

Pinky

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You clearly explained the purpose of your business trip, asked for recommendations regarding sightseeing, and extended a warm invitation to your friend. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend, maintaining a friendly and informal style throughout. The ideas are relevant and well-developed, providing enough detail to satisfy the requirements of the task. To reach a higher band, ensure that you provide slightly more specific details about the 'business' nature of the trip or the 'sightseeing' activities to demonstrate a more sophisticated level of task engagement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a closing. Each paragraph focuses on a specific aspect of the prompt, which helps the reader follow your ideas easily. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'However', 'Firstly', and 'Moreover', to link your thoughts. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the flow between sentences could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words or referencing techniques. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear, and the paragraphing is used effectively to separate the different topics discussed.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using words like 'vibrant', 'collaboration', and 'leisure'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. For example, 'in the spirits' is not a standard idiom; 'in good spirits' would be correct. Similarly, 'quite fascinated' is grammatically incorrect in this context; 'quite fascinating' would be more appropriate. While your vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, you should aim to use more precise collocations and avoid minor errors in word forms to reach a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is good. However, there are several grammatical errors throughout the text. For instance, 'there are number of places' is missing an article ('a number of'), and 'to do collaboration' is better expressed as 'to collaborate'. You also have some punctuation and phrasing issues, such as the comma splice in 'for both of us, we can spend'. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and article 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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