Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-31

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

A family member is coming to stay with you. He/she will be arriving by train in the morning, but you won’t be home until the evening.

• explain arrangements you have made for them to have keys and get into the house

• tell your relative how to get from the train station to your house

• say when you will be home and suggest what you could do together that evening

Student answer (Band 7.5)

Dear Sandeep,

I hope you are doing well. I’m extremely thrilled that you’re coming to stay with me next week for a couple of days. I just wanted to write and explain everything you’ll need to know for your arrival.

I deeply apologise that I won’t be here when you arrive, and I won’t be able to pick you up from the railway station. Although, you don’t have to worry about anything—I’ve already arranged everything for your visit, and I’ve handed things over to my best friend. He will help you to ensure your arrival goes smoothly.

Fortunately, my friend will pick you up from the station, but in case he has to be somewhere else, you can take a cab from the arrival gate and he will drop you at my house.

Also, I will try my best to come home early as soon as possible, and I hope we will see each other by the afternoon. I’ve booked some activities for you for the evening, such as a barbecue, and we can go for a short walk around the street.

Thanks for your understanding.

Best wishes,

Yogesh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You explained the key arrangements (involving your friend), provided instructions for the journey from the station, and suggested evening activities. However, the task specifically asked you to explain how the relative will get the keys to enter the house. Your response mentions that your friend will help with the arrival, but it does not explicitly state how the relative will actually gain access to the property (e.g., 'I have left a spare key under the mat' or 'My friend will hand you the key'). This is a minor omission regarding the specific instructions requested, which prevents a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The letter follows a logical progression, moving from the greeting and welcome to the logistics of the arrival, and finally to the evening plans. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate these distinct ideas. You use cohesive devices such as 'Although', 'Fortunately', and 'Also' to link your sentences. The flow of information is generally smooth and easy to follow. To improve further, ensure that your transitions between ideas are slightly more varied, as some of the sentence starters feel a little repetitive. Overall, the structure is clear and serves the purpose of the letter well.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.0

You demonstrate a good range of vocabulary appropriate for a semi-formal or friendly letter, such as 'extremely thrilled', 'deeply apologise', and 'smoothly'. The word choice is generally natural and fits the context well. There are no significant spelling or word-choice errors that impede communication. While the vocabulary is sufficient and accurate, it lacks some of the more sophisticated or idiomatic expressions that would push the score into the 8.0+ range. You have successfully used a range of vocabulary that is more than adequate for this task.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5

You show good control over a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. Your use of tenses is generally accurate, particularly in describing future arrangements ('I’ve already arranged', 'I will try my best'). There are very few grammatical errors, and punctuation is used correctly throughout. The sentence 'Although, you don’t have to worry about anything' is slightly awkward because 'Although' is a subordinating conjunction and should not be followed by a comma to start a new sentence in this way. However, this is a minor slip and does not affect the overall clarity of your writing.

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

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