Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-18

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You let a friend stay at your apartment while you were away on a trip. When you returned home, you discovered that a valuable possession was broken.

Write a letter to your friend. In your letter
• describe the broken possession.
• explain why it is important to you.
• explain what you would like your friend to do.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear _________,

Student answer (Band 6.0)

Hi Raman,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to express my resentment regarding you broke my expensive and valuable mirror in the bathroom.

First of all, I am really grateful to you that you stayed my house and took care of it while I was out of city. However, when I come back from vocation, I noticed that my designer mirror has broken from the right corner. I am felling so upset to notice that as that mirror was so valuable for because it was gifted by one of my best friends.

I know you did not break it on purpose but I kindly request you, please do your things carefully if you will decide to stay at my apartment next time. Moreover, I feel mad because you did not gives me any heads up regarding that and when I suddenly noticed that situation causing me considerable stress.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope I will see you again as a responsible tenant.

Manroop

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter addresses all three bullet points: describing the mirror, explaining its importance, and requesting action. However, the tone is inconsistent and somewhat aggressive for a letter to a friend. Phrases like 'express my resentment' and 'I feel mad' are overly confrontational and do not align well with the expected semi-formal or informal tone of a letter to a friend. While the task requirements are met, the development of ideas is slightly hindered by this inappropriate tone, which makes the request for the friend to be more 'responsible' sound more like a reprimand than a friendly communication.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organized into paragraphs, each focusing on a specific aspect of the prompt. There is a clear progression from the opening to the description of the incident, the explanation of the item's value, and the final request. Cohesive devices such as 'First of all', 'However', and 'Moreover' are used to link ideas, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The paragraphing is appropriate, and the overall structure is easy to follow, which supports the reader's understanding of the situation.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, though there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. For example, 'express my resentment regarding you broke' is grammatically awkward and lexically imprecise. Phrases like 'vocation' (likely meant 'vacation') and 'felling so upset' (likely meant 'feeling') show issues with word formation and spelling. While the student attempts to use descriptive language ('designer mirror', 'considerable stress'), the range is somewhat limited, and the tone is often inappropriate for the context of writing to a friend.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Notable errors include 'regarding you broke' (should be 'regarding the fact that you broke'), 'stayed my house' (should be 'stayed at my house'), 'mirror has broken' (should be 'was broken'), and 'did not gives me' (should be 'did not give me'). These errors are frequent enough to be noticeable but do not prevent the reader from understanding the core message. More attention to verb tenses and prepositional usage is required.

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

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