Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-28

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 John,

I am writing this letter to inform you about my summer's plan. Unlike last year, this year I was planning to do something productive so I went ahead and rented a house in the city of Peterborough for next couple of months. The city of Peterborough is 2 hours drive from the Toronto.

Furthermore, the house that I have rented is located near a lake. The house is located on the outskirts of the city, which makes the place really quite and enjoyable. You feel like more close to nature. Similarly, during sunset you get a breath taking view of the sky and by the night you get to see the city's skyline. Additionally, I am planning to attend some online courses during my time there. Moreover, I will practice some yoga and will learn to cook new cuisines and many more things.

Moving ahead, I am inviting you as well to come and visit me any day during my time there. We can plan some activities and enjoy the summer time together. I am confident that you will definitely enjoy that place as well as the city.

Let me know your plans and we can catch up soon. Looking forward to hear from you.

Yours friend,

Navdeep

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The student has successfully addressed all three bullet points required by the prompt. First, the house is described as being located near a lake on the outskirts of Peterborough, providing a quiet atmosphere and great views. Second, daily activities are well covered, including taking online courses, practicing yoga, and learning to cook new cuisines. Third, a clear invitation is extended to the friend to visit at any time during the summer. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend, and all parts of the task are fully covered and appropriately extended, easily satisfying the requirements for Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter exhibits a clear logical organisation with an appropriate greeting, body paragraphs addressing different aspects of the prompt, and a suitable sign-off. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate the description of the house and activities from the invitation. Cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'Similarly', and 'Additionally' are employed to guide the reader through the text, though some transitions like 'Moving ahead' feel slightly unnatural or mechanical. Overall, there is a clear progression of ideas throughout the letter, supporting a solid Band 6.5 or 7 score, and here it comfortably meets Band 7 standards.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary suitable for a general letter. Phrases such as 'outskirts of the city', 'breath taking view', and 'city's skyline' show a good attempt at descriptive language. However, there are some minor lexical slips and unnatural collocations, such as 'summer's plan' instead of 'summer plans', 'really quite' instead of 'really quiet', and 'Looking forward to hear' instead of 'Looking forward to hearing'. Despite these occasional errors, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the message clearly and effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses ('the house that I have rented') and conditional or temporal clauses. There are several grammatical errors present, including '2 hours drive from the Toronto' (missing hyphen and incorrect article), 'You feel like more close to nature' (awkward comparative structure), and the sign-off 'Yours friend' instead of 'Your friend'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, their frequency prevents the text from reaching a higher band score, making Band 6 an accurate reflection of grammatical control.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.