Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-18

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 6.5)

Dear Sarah,

Hope you're doing well! I'm very pleased to hear that you are visiting my home next week to stay with me. I want to tell you that upon your arrival, I won't be home until the evening.

But you don't need to worry about anything, as I've made all necessary arrangements for you. When you get off a train, call me right away, and I will book a taxi for you. Aside for this, you can get my house's keys from my neighbour whose name is 'Ammi' lives in 32 number house.

I will come home at 7 P.M. and I have made many plans to enjoy. First we will go to a nearby restaurent to have dinner. Afterwards, we will come back home and will play games while having chit chat. Lastly, we will watch a horror movie together as I know how you're obsessed with watching these movies. Believe me we would have more fun that day!

Look forward eagerly to meeting you soon!

Yours lovingly,

Prabh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response covers all three bullet points required by the prompt successfully. First, the writer explains arrangements for getting into the house by mentioning the neighbor 'Ammi' at house number 32. Second, instructions are provided regarding transportation from the train station, advising Sarah to call upon arrival so a taxi can be booked. Finally, the writer states they will be home at 7 P.M. and suggests dinner at a local restaurant, followed by games and a horror movie. All parts of the task are well-developed and appropriate for a semi-formal letter to a relative. The tone is warm, friendly, and consistent throughout. Therefore, this warrants a solid Band 7.0 for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organised with clear paragraphing, moving smoothly from the greeting and arrival details to logistics like keys and transportation, and finally to evening plans. Cohesive devices are generally used appropriately, such as 'First', 'Afterwards', and 'Lastly' to sequence the evening activities. However, there are minor issues with referencing and cohesion, such as 'Aside for this' instead of 'Apart from this' or 'In addition', and some slightly disjointed transitions between sentences in the second paragraph. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the text logically, resulting in a clear overall progression. This performance aligns well with the Band 6.5 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a personal letter, such as 'necessary arrangements', 'obsessed', and 'restaurent' (spelling error). There are some attempts at less common phrasing, though a few awkward collocations occur, such as 'get off a train' (should be 'get off the train') and 'having chit chat' (more naturally 'having a chat'). Spelling contains a few minor flaws like 'restaurent'. Despite these vocabulary and spelling inaccuracies, communication is never impeded, and the language is natural enough to convey the intended meaning effectively. This places the lexical performance comfortably at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over future structures and conditional clauses (e.g., 'When you get off a train, call me right away, and I will book a taxi for you'). However, there are noticeable grammatical errors and awkward prepositions, such as 'get my house's keys' (better: 'get the keys to my house'), 'whose name is 'Ammi' lives in 32 number house' (a run-on/relative clause error, better: 'named Ammi who lives at house number 32'), and 'Look forward eagerly' (missing 'I'm'). While these errors are noticeable, they rarely impede communication, allowing the response to secure a Band 6.0.

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

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