Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-03

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 Rutvi,

I hope that you are doing well.

I am excited to know that you are planning to enroll in a foreign exchange program for a year. I think you should definitely go ahead with it as this course provides a opportunity to learn about local culture and traditions. Moreover, the concept of a host family opens door for one to learn things like their living style, food habits and routein. In addition, the university gives to option to choose among the Asian and Europeans countries. I did mine in Japan as I was keen to know about new technologies such as, robotics, super fast transportation, gadgets and a high tech infrastructure. Lastly, not only I was able to learn about this things during my journey but an etiquttes and a sense of responsibility the Japanese people holds.

On the other hand, It help me to develop the great Math tricks from Japan which are now turning out to be very useful in my engineering degree.

Yours sincerely

Deep Ukani

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You clearly stated where you studied (Japan), described what you learned about the country (technology, etiquette, and responsibility), and explained the benefit to your studies (Math tricks for engineering). The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend's sister. However, the development of ideas is somewhat brief. For instance, the explanation of how the year abroad helped your studies is limited to a single sentence. Expanding on how the experience influenced your personal growth or academic perspective would have provided a more comprehensive response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is generally easy to follow, and you have used some cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'In addition', and 'Lastly' to link your ideas. However, the paragraphing is problematic. The letter is split into very short, fragmented paragraphs, which disrupts the flow. A more standard structure would involve a clear introduction, a body paragraph for the main details, and a brief concluding paragraph. Additionally, the transition between the discussion of Japan and the mention of 'Math tricks' is abrupt, making the overall organization feel slightly disjointed.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your meaning, such as 'foreign exchange program', 'infrastructure', and 'responsibility'. However, there are several errors in word choice and spelling that detract from the quality of the writing, such as 'routein' (routine), 'etiquttes' (etiquette), and 'the Japanese people holds' (hold). Furthermore, some phrasing is slightly unnatural, such as 'develop the great Math tricks'. Improving your control over collocations and ensuring accurate spelling would help you reach a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You have attempted a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is good. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'a opportunity' (an opportunity), 'opens door' (opens the door), 'gives to option' (gives the option), and 'not only I was able to' (not only was I able to). Additionally, there are issues with article usage and subject-verb agreement. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall accuracy of your writing.

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

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