Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-11

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have enrolled in an evening course but you have found that you are too busy to continue and would like to take the course next term instead.

• explain the situation and why you cannot continue the course

• say what you would like to do about your studies

• ask for advice about what you can do about the situation

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to request you to kindly make changes to my current enrollment for business course. The reason why I would like to make rectifications to my admission is an unfortunate family emergency that took place recently.

Unfortunately, my grand father is severely ill from past few days. Today, the doctor said he is diagnosed with tuberculosis. It is extremely important for me to visit my home country within the next few weeks as my parents feel like I should be present in this kind of circumstances.

It would be appreciated if my course timeline could be shifted to next semester. Additionally, if there's any upfront fees to push back the academics, I am ready to bear those expenses.

Kindly let me know if there's any alternative step which should be taken to avoid the extra fee. I know that starting this year could have been a beneficial step overall.

I would appreciate your consideration of my request and look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions effectively. The writer clearly explains the situation regarding the evening course and the family emergency involving their grandfather, specifies their desired action to shift the timeline to the next semester, and asks for advice about alternative steps and fees. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter, and the purpose of the communication is immediately clear. Ideas are well-supported and relevant to the scenario presented. Overall, the requirements of the prompt are fully satisfied.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organised with a clear beginning, middle, and end, following standard formal letter conventions. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as the explanation of the situation, the proposed solution, and the inquiry about fees. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, though transitions between some sentences could be smoother. For example, moving from the grandfather's diagnosis to the travel plans is generally clear, but referencing could be slightly more refined. Overall progression is logical throughout.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to communicate the situation with adequate precision. Phrases like unfortunate family emergency, severely ill, and upfront fees show a good attempt at formal register. However, there are some minor collocation and word choice inaccuracies, such as my grand father is severely ill from past few days where 'for the past few days' would be more natural. Additionally, rectifications to my admission is slightly unnatural compared to 'changes to my enrollment'. Vocabulary is generally adequate for the task.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional clauses and relative clauses. There are several grammatical errors present, particularly with prepositions and articles, for example, from past few days instead of 'for the past few days' and diagnosed with tuberculosis without any article issues, though 'is diagnosed' should ideally be past tense ('has been diagnosed'). Another error includes if there's any upfront fees where 'fees' is plural and requires 'are'. Despite these errors, communication is not impeded and the meaning remains clear throughout.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.