Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-28
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 6.0)
Dear brother,
I hope this letter finds you well, I intend to write this letter to nform you that I will not be able to pick you up at the station in the evening as I got stucked somewhere.
First of all, I dropped the keys at my neighbour house, their son who is one of my best friends so I had explained him everything and ready to help me, so he would be at the station to pick you up and he will also give you the house keys. Even I had told him to prepare food because he is good at culinary skills so you can relax.
Moreover, I will be home around 08:00 pm then I am planning to go out for dinner and there is a barbecue so we will go there.
I apologise not to come at the station when you will find this letter may you accept my apology.
Your sister
Veera
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5
The response covers all three bullet points from the prompt effectively. First, the writer explains the key arrangements clearly by stating that the keys were dropped off with a neighbour's son who will also pick the relative up. Second, travel instructions from the station are handled via this friend meeting them. Third, the student mentions returning home around 8:00 pm and suggests going out for dinner and a barbecue together. The tone is suitably informal for a letter to a brother, though there is a slight contradiction between the opening statement saying the writer cannot pick him up due to getting stuck, and later stating the friend will pick him up. Overall, all parts of the task are adequately addressed.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The letter follows a generally logical structure with a standard greeting and sign-off. However, paragraphing is somewhat weak, as the main body of the letter is condensed into one long, run-on paragraph that covers multiple ideas from keys to food and evening plans. Cohesive devices are basic and sometimes mechanically linked, such as 'First of all' and 'Moreover', but referencing is mostly clear. To achieve a higher band, the writer should break the text into distinct paragraphs for each main topic: one for the arrival/keys arrangement, one for food/friend assistance, and one for the evening plans.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a personal letter, incorporating informal phrasing such as 'get stucked' (though grammatically flawed) and 'culinary skills'. There are some word choice and collocation issues, such as 'dropped the keys at my neighbour house' instead of 'left the keys with my neighbour' and 'stucked' instead of 'stuck'. While less common vocabulary is attempted, inaccuracies in word form and collocation occasionally surface, placing this firmly in the mid-band range where communication remains clear despite lexical limitations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The text displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but it is marred by frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues. For example, comma splices are present in the opening sentence ('I hope this letter finds you well, I intend to write...'). Other errors include 'got stucked' instead of 'got stuck', 'neighbour house' instead of 'neighbour's house', and 'I apologise not to come' instead of 'I apologise for not being able to come'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the writing from reaching a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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