Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-08

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 Izzie,

I hope you're doing well. I just got you're letter last week about spending a year abroad as a part of your fashion designing course where you asked about my experience.

First of all, I completed my diploma from CDI College which is located in downtown Montreal. My schedule was really easy to adapt, as my classes were only during the weekends and each class lasted for almost hour and half. During weekdays I worked at a library near my rental place for almost 9 months.

Apart from this, the culture and tradition of the city was very different, all the holidays and every aspect you can think was differ from our home country such as food, weather and even language. I not only experienced these all things but also became a B1 speaker on French language which is first language of Canada.

Lastly, I would say my year in Canada was helpful for me because I worked there which improved my social skills, communications and increased my confidence. Also, I got better job opportunities because I had studied in two different nations which actually boosted my resume.

I hope you find this all information useful, and don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need more information.

Take care,

Sukhman

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have addressed all three bullet points of the prompt effectively. You clearly identified your study location (Montreal), described cultural differences such as food and language, and explained the benefits of the experience regarding your social skills and resume. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend's sister, maintaining a friendly and informal register throughout. The ideas are well-developed and relevant to the task requirements. To reach a higher band, ensure that you provide slightly more depth in your descriptions, such as explaining how the specific cultural differences impacted your daily life, rather than just listing them.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs for each requirement, and a polite closing. You use basic cohesive devices like 'First of all', 'Apart from this', and 'Lastly' to guide the reader through your points. While the paragraphing is appropriate, the flow between sentences could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words. Sometimes the transition between ideas feels a bit mechanical. Overall, the message is easy to follow, and the structure supports the development of your ideas effectively.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'diploma', 'opportunities', and 'resume' correctly. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'experienced these all things' instead of 'experienced all of these things' and 'first language of Canada' (French is an official language, but not the only one). You also have some minor phrasing issues, such as 'almost hour and half'. To improve, try to incorporate more precise collocations and ensure that your word choices are natural in the context of describing personal experiences.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is good. However, there are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text. For example, 'I just got you're letter' (should be 'your'), 'every aspect you can think was differ' (should be 'differed'), and 'I became a B1 speaker on French language' (should be 'in the French language'). While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and common homophone errors like 'your' versus 'you're'.

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

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