Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-24

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 Jack,

Hope you are in good spirits! I am writing this letter to you to inform you that I am coming to your city for my business trip.

The purpose of my trip is to attend business meetings. Therefore, I will stay there for 1 week at the Royal Hotel.

Now, I am planning to explore the city with you. As, it has been a long time we didn't spent time together. Moreover, I believe that we can do a number of activities over there, including going outside and observing the night lights. Apart from this, recently I searched for some of the beautiful attractions over there; I will share my bucket list with you soon.

You can also come to my hotel. It is very famous for its food variety, or we can go outside to watch a movie. Most importantly, there is an indoor swimming pool, I know this is your favourite activity. We can do this at my hotel.

See you soon!

Yours lovingly,

Gurleen Kaur.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response successfully covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions. First, Gurleen clearly explains the purpose of the trip by stating she is coming for business meetings and staying at the Royal Hotel for one week. Second, she asks about things to do and see in the city by mentioning her recent search for beautiful attractions and her plan to share a bucket list. Third, she effectively invites her friend to do something together during the visit, suggesting exploring the city, watching a movie, and swimming at her hotel. The tone is appropriately informal and friendly throughout, matching the letter format. All parts of the prompt are addressed well, and ideas are sufficiently developed to meet the requirements of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter exhibits a clear logical progression from introducing the visit, explaining its purpose, planning activities, to making specific suggestions. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as hotel details and activity plans. Cohesive devices are generally handled well, including transition phrases like "Therefore," "Now," and "Apart from this." However, some referencing is slightly awkward or mechanical, such as "over there" used repetitively in close proximity. Overall organisation is coherent, and the letter moves smoothly from opening to the final sign-off, ensuring that the reader can easily follow the sequence of thoughts and invitations.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

Gurleen uses an adequate and appropriate range of vocabulary for a general informal letter, such as "business meetings," "explore the city," and "bucket list." There are attempts to use less common items, though some collocations feel slightly unnatural, such as "food variety" instead of "variety of food" or "culinary variety," and "observing the night lights" instead of "enjoying the nightlife." Spelling is generally accurate, and vocabulary choices do not impede communication, successfully conveying the intended friendly tone and specific practical details of the upcoming trip.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional-like structures successfully. There are some minor grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as "As, it has been a long time we didn't spent time together," which contains punctuation misuse, a missing preposition, and tense confusion (should be 'haven't spent' or 'didn't spend'). Despite these lapses, the majority of simple sentences are error-free, and complex structures are attempted with varying degrees of success. Punctuation is mostly functional, and the grammatical errors present do not impede overall communication.

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

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