Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The younger sister of one of your friends is thinking about spending a year studying abroad as part of her university course. You did this recently, and she has asked you about your experience.

Write a letter to your friend's sister. In your letter

• tell her where you studied during your year abroad

• describe what you learnt about the country you studied in

• explain why your year abroad was helpful for your studies

Begin your letter as follows:
Dear........,

Student answer (Band 6.0)

Dear sandra,

How have you been, I hope you are doing well? it has been a while. I heard you are planning on studying abroad for a year and I would like to share my thoughts on that.

Studying abroad for a period of time is a good idea because I did same as well. I studied construction procurement in Armsterdan during my university year, and I will say it was indeed worth it.

Armsterdan is a nice country and I was able to learn their working ethics before leaving. In Armsterdan, an average worker resumes at their job as early as 7:30am and close by 4:00pm. They are very diligent and everyone keeps to time.

During my stay there, I was able to learn a lot regarding my profession because I got hands-on experiences for most topics treated in class. This exposed me to some details hideen in my profession.

I really look forward to your taking a year course abroad because I know it will be beneficial to you.

Best regards,

Jesse.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address all three requested points: you identify Amsterdam as the place of study, describe local working habits, and explain that practical experience helped you understand your profession. The details about workers starting at 7:30 and finishing at 4:00 make the country description more specific. However, the explanation of how the year helped your studies is less fully developed: “hands-on experiences” and learning “details” are mentioned, but you do not show how this knowledge supported your university coursework or future academic work. The letter is appropriately friendly and gives a clear recommendation. To strengthen it, add one concrete example of a skill or topic you studied abroad and explain how it connected to your course.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter is organised into clear paragraphs, with a sensible progression from greeting and purpose to location, observations, academic benefits, and closing. Phrases such as “During my stay there” help signal the shift to your learning experience, and the overall message is easy to follow. This clear structure meets the expected level, while the sequence within some paragraphs could be more tightly connected. For example, the description of workers’ schedules is followed by “They are very diligent,” but the link between punctuality and your broader understanding of the country could be explained more explicitly. The opening also combines several ideas in quick succession. Use a few more precise links to show how each observation relates to your experience and advice.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including relevant terms such as “construction procurement,” “working ethics,” and “hands-on experiences.” These choices show an attempt to discuss both the country and your academic field. However, several word choices or forms are inaccurate or unnatural, including “Armsterdan,” “a nice country,” “resumes at their job,” and “details hideen.” Such errors make the language less precise, even though the intended meaning is generally recoverable. Aim for more natural collocations and check spelling carefully. For instance, describe the country as “the Netherlands” or the city as “Amsterdam,” and use phrases such as “starts work” and “practical experience” to express your ideas more idiomatically.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mixture of simple and more developed sentence forms, and most of the message remains understandable. For example, “During my stay there, I was able to learn a lot regarding my profession because…” combines a main clause with a reason clause. Some grammatical errors remain, however. In “How have you been, I hope you are doing well?” two independent clauses are joined with a comma; separate them or use a conjunction. “I did same as well” is missing a determiner, and “everyone keeps to time” would need a more natural grammatical construction. Capitalisation at the start of sentences is also inconsistent, as in “it has been a while.” Review sentence boundaries, articles, and consistent sentence-initial capital letters to improve accuracy.

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

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