Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-08

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Five months ago, you started renting an apartment on a six-month agreement. You now wish to stay in the apartment for longer than the six months you originally agreed with the owner.

Write a letter to the owner of your apartment. In your letter

• say how long you now want to rent the apartment for
• explain why your plans have changed
• tell the owner about a problem in the apartment

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ....................................,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Sam,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to request you to extend my rental agreement. I ranted your apartment on 1st January as a part of six months lease contract. However, I have decided to stay for another six months after considering the benefits of this location.

Firstly, the commute to my college from here is very easy. I have an easy access to all the important amenities. Hence, this has been my comfortable living location for past six months. My college has added an extra course for 6 months and I have to complete it in order to graduate with good marks. Since the college is very close to the apartment, I have decided to extend my lease term for another six months.

Although the apartment is newly constructed, I am facing hot water issue for last two weeks. There is no hot water in the apartment at all. While all my neighboures have access to it. Can you please look into these two requests of mine. I would really appreciate your efforts.

Kind regards,

Nicole Sharma.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The letter clearly addresses all three requirements. You request an extension, specify that you want to stay for “another six months,” and explain that an additional college course means you need to remain nearby. You also identify the hot-water problem and ask the owner to look into it. These points are relevant and supported with practical details, such as the easy commute and nearby amenities. The purpose and tone remain clear throughout. To make the explanation even more fully developed, clarify the timing of the course in relation to your original six-month agreement, and state more directly what action you would like the owner to take about the water. Overall, the key ideas are extended and supported, with only minor scope for greater precision.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall progression: you introduce the request, explain why you want to stay, and then raise the apartment problem. Paragraphing supports this sequence, and linking expressions such as “However,” “Firstly,” and “Hence” help connect ideas. The explanation of your college course also follows logically from the benefits of the location. At times, though, the links feel somewhat mechanical, and “Can you please look into these two requests of mine” is unclear because the letter has not presented two distinct requests in a balanced way. Use a more direct transition to the maintenance issue and refer specifically to the hot-water problem. This would make cohesion more natural and references clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for a formal request, including “rental agreement,” “amenities,” “commute,” and “extend my lease term.” These choices communicate the main points effectively, and the tone is generally appropriate. Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, however: “ranted your apartment” appears to be a spelling error for “rented,” “easy access” needs a more natural construction in this sentence, and “hot water issue” could be expressed more precisely. “Comfortable living location” is also less idiomatic than a phrase such as “convenient place to live.” Check spelling and collocations carefully, and choose precise expressions for the problem and the requested extension. These improvements would make the letter sound more fluent and natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including the clause beginning “Since the college is very close to the apartment,” and the contrast introduced by “Although.” Most of the message remains easy to understand. Some grammatical errors persist, particularly with articles, prepositions, and sentence boundaries. For example, write “request an extension to my rental agreement” rather than “request you to extend my rental agreement,” and “for the past six months” rather than “for past six months.” “While all my neighbours have access to it” is a dependent clause presented as a sentence, so connect it to the preceding sentence. Review these patterns and punctuation; greater accuracy across such structures would strengthen the letter.

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

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