Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-16

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 6.5)

Dear Sarah,

Hope you`re doing well. I`m writing this letter to let you how embrassed i got in front of my parents when you left my apartment. When i came home tired i saw that you have broken the most priced possetion i had which was my Egyptian pot that i got from my parents as my birthday present.

I was already having a bad day that day at work and i came home to a broken pot. It got extremely furious as it was really precious for me as it was quiet expensive as well. It had a huge sentimental attachment with the pot. It was the last birthday gift from my mom right before she passed away.

However, it was an invaluable item and is impossible to replace, i wolud love it if you can send me the amout it was worth which was approximately a $1000. You can send me either online or by cash as it will help me to pay my tution fee.

kind regars,

Uroosa

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response successfully covers all three bullet points required by the task prompt. You clearly describe the broken possession as an Egyptian pot received as a birthday present from your late mother. You also explain its strong sentimental importance, noting it was your last gift from her. Furthermore, you state what you would like your friend to do, specifically asking for compensation of approximately one thousand dollars to help pay your tuition fee. The tone is appropriate for a semi-formal or personal letter to a friend regarding a serious issue, and all ideas are relevant and well-developed. The task is fully addressed throughout the letter, earning a solid band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall progression, moving logically from the greeting and the initial shock of the discovery to the emotional explanation and finally the request for compensation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different ideas, such as the introduction of the incident, the emotional context, and the financial request. Cohesive devices are generally handled well, though transitions like 'However' are misused in the third paragraph ('However, it was an invaluable item...'), creating a slight mechanical slip. Referencing is mostly clear, though occasional minor flaws in referencing and conjunctions prevent a higher score. Overall, the organization is coherent and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'sentimental attachment', 'invaluable', and 'approximately'. However, there are several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'embrassed' instead of 'embarrassed', 'priced possetion' instead of 'prized possession', 'quiet' instead of 'quite', and 'amout' instead of 'amount'. Additionally, 'It got extremely furious' is an unnatural collocation since the pot cannot become furious. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they restrict your lexical score to the band 6 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writing contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. You use relative clauses effectively, such as 'that you have broken the most priced possetion i had which was my Egyptian pot'. However, there are several grammatical errors and punctuation slips, including missing capitalizations for 'I', a tense inconsistency ('you have broken' instead of 'you broke'), and a sentence fragment in the final paragraph ('You can send me either online or by cash...'). Punctuation and article use also show occasional lapses. These errors occur frequently enough to prevent reaching the band 7 threshold, but they rarely impede overall understanding.

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

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