Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-07

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have rented a house by a lake for the summer.

Write a letter to a friend. In your letter
• describe the house.
• describe how you are spending your time there.
• invite your friend to come and visit.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ____

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Zahra,

I hope you are doing well. It's been a long time since we met so I decided to write a letter to you to invite you at my new house for dinner this weekend. You know when we last met I was telling you that I am planning to change my 2 bedroom apartment and move to big house as my kids are growing and they need separate rooms and a study room too, so I moved to 4 bedroom town house in the countryside which is situated near Louise lake. It has beautiful lakeview from our balcony and from backyard. We also have patio and a sofa set in the backyard for this summer.

My kids love spending their time in the backyard during evening after school and accompany them with my evening coffee and enjoy the view. We also have a boat so we enjoy the boat ride on holidays and invest in gardening by planting new plants and taking care of them.

Since, it been a while that we met each other, I would like to invite you and your husband to my house on this weekend and we can spend some quality time by going for a boat ride followed by a barbeque dinner in the backyard and having some white wine. I am sure you will enjoy that. I am excited and looking forward for spending time with you this weekend and hope you reply to this letter so I can make arrangements for our fun day.

Yours lovingly,

Tisha Bhatt

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You described the house, explained how you spend your time there, and extended a clear invitation to your friend. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend, being informal and friendly. The ideas are relevant and well-developed, particularly the description of the house and the activities you enjoy. To reach a higher band, ensure that all parts of the prompt are balanced; for instance, the invitation could be slightly more integrated into the flow of the letter, but overall, the task requirements are fully met.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized with clear paragraphing. Each paragraph focuses on a specific aspect of the task, which helps the reader follow your ideas easily. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Since,' 'also,' and 'as,' which help connect your thoughts. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing, such as 'I decided to write a letter to you to invite you at my new house,' where the phrasing is slightly repetitive. Improving the variety of linking words would enhance the flow and coherence of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You have an adequate range of vocabulary to convey your message clearly. You use some descriptive language like 'lakeview,' 'countryside,' and 'barbeque dinner.' However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'invest in gardening' (which is not the standard collocation) and 'invite you at my new house' (should be 'to'). While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the use of vocabulary from being considered 'flexible' or 'precise' at a higher level. Expanding your range of collocations would be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as missing articles ('move to big house,' 'near Louise lake'), incorrect prepositions ('invite you at'), and tense inconsistencies ('Since, it been a while'). While these errors are noticeable, they rarely impede the reader's understanding of your message. To improve, focus on article usage and subject-verb agreement. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures while maintaining accuracy would help you achieve a higher band score in this criterion.

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

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