Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-03

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 6.0)

Dear Mr Smith,

I am writing to ask if you could increase my stay here in this apartment for more than six months. I know we have had our contract to stay here was of 6 months . Nevertheless , Now I need to stay here for 2 more months due to some reasons.

The first reason is that my job here in this city was of 6 months and I had planned to leave the job after that as I was planning to move abroad afterwards. Therefore, I applied for UK visa for that purpose and unfortunately it got refused. Consequently, Now I need to continue this job to earn money for my expenses.

Another significant factor is , The boss of the company in which I am working right now is insisting me to stay here till my visa got accepted due to my good work in his company. Therefore, I request you to extend my stay here for 2 more months until I get my visa accepted.

Thanks in anticipation.

Yours sincerely,

James bond

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt: you specified the duration of the extension, explained the change in your plans regarding your visa, and requested the extension. However, you failed to include the third requirement: telling the owner about a problem in the apartment. This is a significant omission that impacts the task completion. To improve, ensure you carefully check off every instruction in the prompt before finishing. The tone is generally appropriate for a formal letter, though the structure of the request could be more professional.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your ideas. You use some cohesive devices like 'Therefore' and 'Consequently' to link your thoughts. However, the use of punctuation is often inconsistent, such as the unnecessary capitalization in 'The boss of the company' and 'The first reason'. Additionally, some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Improving the flow between sentences and ensuring consistent punctuation would help elevate your score in this area.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary to convey your message, such as 'anticipation', 'significant factor', and 'insisting'. However, there are some awkward collocations and word choices, such as 'increase my stay' (better: 'extend my stay') and 'contract to stay here was of 6 months' (better: 'six-month lease'). You also have some repetitive phrasing. To improve, focus on learning common collocations related to renting and business contexts to sound more natural and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is good. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with verb tenses and articles, such as 'I applied for UK visa' (should be 'a UK visa') and 'until I get my visa accepted' (should be 'until my visa is approved'). There are also issues with sentence boundaries and capitalization. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to lower the score. Focus on subject-verb agreement and consistent use of articles.

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

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