Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-19

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 Emma,

I'm sorry ,I haven't wrote for a long time .My works keeps me so busy I never have enough time to myself so I thought It would be perfect to spend my summer vacation renting a house by the lake.

I just wanted to drop a line about how I plan to spend my summer there. The first thing I have to say is the panorama it is very spectacular.Do you remember the series called "Virgin River ? You are not gonna believe me; the cottage has the same vibe as the series,made out of wood,nice and clean with fireplace. Nearby, we have hiking trails so most of the time I spend exploring the nearby area.The location is surrounded by mountain and lakes.By the way they have nice tavern nearby, it has old century look and the drinks bring you to a different world.

I though why I have to spend all this alone so I am relly gratefull if you have fretime to stay couples of days with me. How it sounds? and Ialredy know as soon as you will read this letter you will come to see me so, until then take care.

With love,

Imasha

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The candidate successfully covers all three bullet points required by the task instructions in a natural and friendly tone. The house is vividly described as being made of wood, clean, and featuring a fireplace, while the surroundings are noted for hiking trails, mountains, and lakes. The way the student spends their time is clearly articulated through exploring the area and visiting a local tavern. Furthermore, a warm and inviting invitation is extended to Emma to stay for a couple of days. The purpose of the letter is clear throughout, adopting an appropriate semi-formal/informal register suitable for a friend. All parts of the prompt are fully addressed with relevant, well-developed ideas, aligning well with the Band 7 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter maintains a clear overall progression and logical organization from the opening apology to the final closing remarks. Paragraphing is used to separate the opening context from the main descriptions of the house, activities, and the invitation. However, there are some mechanical transitions and punctuation issues that affect overall cohesion, such as spacing errors around commas and periods, and slightly abrupt shifts between sentences. Cohesive devices like 'The first thing I have to say' and 'By the way' are employed to guide the reader, but referencing and linking could be smoother in places, placing this response firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and descriptive phrases such as 'panorama', 'spectacular', 'vibe', and 'old century look'. While there are some slight word choice and collocation inaccuracies—such as writing 'panorama it is very spectacular' instead of 'the panorama is spectacular' or using 'fretime'—these do not impede communication. The tone is appropriately conversational and friendly. Spelling and word formation are generally clear, though minor slips like 'relly' and 'Ialredy' occur. This performance satisfies the criteria for Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at varied structures such as 'I thought It would be perfect to spend...' and 'as soon as you will read this letter you will come...'. However, there are several grammatical errors and punctuation lapses throughout the text, including tense issues ('haven't wrote' instead of 'haven't written'), missing articles ('with fireplace'), comma splices, and incorrect spacing before punctuation marks. Although these errors are noticeable, they rarely impede overall communication, making this consistent with a Band 6 score.

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

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