Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-11-02

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 Hamna,

I hope you are doing well and adjusting in your new company. Many congratulations on securing a role in your dream company. Looking forward to a treat!

Remember when we visited Shugran about 3 years ago and talked about having a vacation house nearby the lake. I am thrilled to inform you that I have rented a house there. It is a double story 3 bedroom apartment with a medium sized balcony facing the east. It has a small backyard with a slide and swing, my children are glued to them all the time. The neighbourhood is friendly, I have made some friends here, but also peaceful and quiet. As mostly there are elderly poeple enjoying their retirement life.

I have placed a big swing chair in the balcony so without a-miss I watch the sunrise with my cup of tea. The sound of river waves, singing of birds and green lush landscape is a treat to eyes and ears. I usually go for a stroll in the evening or sometimes have a coffee at the nearby cafe. This place is ideal for a gateaway so please plan a trip and come over along with your family. I am here by the end of July which gives you ample time to make the necessary arrangements. I will be looking forward hearing from you.

Best regards,

Annum

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

You address all three parts of the task and maintain a friendly, appropriate tone. The house is described with concrete details, including its three bedrooms, balcony, backyard and quiet neighbourhood; you also explain your routine and clearly invite Hamna and her family to visit before the end of July. The reference to your earlier conversation about a holiday house makes the letter feel personal. To make the response more fully developed, clarify a few details—for example, how you spend time with your children or what activities you could enjoy together. The description of the setting is vivid, but some details could be connected more directly to your plans for the visit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall progression: you open with news about Hamna, introduce the rented house, describe your routine and finish with an invitation. Paragraphing helps distinguish the main topics, and phrases such as “Remember when” and “This place” link ideas to the context. However, some connections are abrupt or unclear. “As mostly there are elderly people…” is a fragment that does not connect smoothly to the neighbourhood description, while the shift from the children playing to the neighbourhood could be better signposted. The final paragraph also combines daily activities, scenery and the invitation in a long sequence. More deliberate linking and a clearer separation of these ideas would make cohesion more flexible and natural.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for a personal letter, including descriptive phrases such as “friendly,” “peaceful and quiet,” “sunrise” and “green lush landscape.” These details help convey the appeal of the location, and the tone remains warm. There are also some inaccurate or unnatural choices that limit precision: “nearby the lake,” “a treat to eyes and ears,” and “gateaway” do not sound natural in context. “River waves” is also an imprecise description of the sound. Check spelling and collocations, and choose expressions that fit the intended meaning closely. More consistently natural phrasing would strengthen the description without requiring a more formal style.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, and most of the message remains easy to understand. For example, “I usually go for a stroll in the evening or sometimes have a coffee at the nearby cafe” is a clear sentence with coordinated activities. Some grammatical errors remain, however. “As mostly there are elderly people…” is an incomplete clause, and “I will be looking forward hearing from you” is missing the required “to.” The sentence about the backyard and children joins two independent ideas with a comma, and “I am here by the end of July” does not clearly express your intended time frame. Review clause completeness, verb patterns and sentence boundaries to improve accuracy.

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