Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Dear Harman,

I hope you’re doing well. I'm writing in response that your interested in going to a foreign country to pursue university studies for a year the same way I did. I would like to share a few interesting facts regarding this.

Although there were plenty of universities I had to choose from, I opted to continue my course in Concordia University, and it is situated in the beautiful city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has numerous campuses, but I chose the one right in the miidle of the city, as it offers more convenience than the others.

What I found about the country is its cultural diversity. While I was there for a year, I met with individuals from different countries and backgrounds, and they all were extremey helpful. Moreover, the rich history of the country demonstrates the crucial events that happened in the past.

Gaining skills and having exposure in international market really helped me throughout my stay there. I'm really thankful to this country, as it gave me an experience which I can use for rest of my life.

I hope you will find this informative!

With love,

Maninder Singh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address all three requested points: you identify Concordia University in Montreal, describe Canada’s cultural diversity and history, and explain that international exposure helped your studies. The details about meeting people from different backgrounds make the country description relevant. However, some parts are less fully developed than others. The explanation of how the year abroad helped your studies is quite general: “Gaining skills and having exposure in international market” does not specify which skills you gained or how they supported your university course. The country description also focuses on broad observations rather than a particular lesson or example. Add one concrete academic benefit and a specific cultural insight to make the letter more complete and informative.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall arrangement: an opening, separate paragraphs about the university and country, an explanation of the benefit, and a friendly closing. This makes the main points easy to locate, and transitions such as “Moreover” and “While I was there” help connect ideas. The progression is generally logical, though some links between ideas are a little mechanical or unclear. For example, “I’m writing in response that your interested” does not clearly establish the connection to her question, and “Gaining skills and having exposure…” moves quickly from the country description to the academic benefit. Use a more direct opening and connect the final body paragraph explicitly to her course or future studies.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for a personal letter, including phrases such as “cultural diversity,” “rich history,” and “international market.” These choices communicate the main ideas, and the tone is generally friendly. There are, however, some inaccurate or unnatural word choices and collocations. “Continue my course in Concordia University” would be more naturally expressed as studying at the university, while “exposure in international market” is unclear and needs a more precise phrase. There are also spelling errors, including “miidle” and “extremey.” Aim for natural combinations of words and check spelling carefully; more precise vocabulary would also help you explain what you learned and how it benefited your studies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including a subordinate clause beginning “Although” and a sentence with “While I was there.” Most of the message remains understandable, and punctuation generally separates the paragraphs and ideas clearly. Some grammatical errors remain. In “I’m writing in response that your interested,” the structure should be “I’m writing in response to your interest,” and “your” should be “you’re” if followed by “interested.” The phrase “it gave me an experience which I can use for rest of my life” also needs an article before “the rest.” Review sentence patterns after expressions such as “in response to,” as well as articles and possessive forms, to make your writing more consistently accurate.

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.