Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-13
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 7.0)
Dear Anna,
I want to start by congratulating you on getting this far in your academic pursuit. I must say, you made the right choice applying to Davons College; one of the ivy league schools in the country that has a good reputation. You made all of us proud and
About two years ago I was there and know the amount of hard work you must invest to excel and I'm pretty sure you must have done a lot of research about the school. Howbeit , I have some tips for you to ensure you have a memorable stay. Life in Davon was like a home away from home for me because of the international students association which I belonged to. We looked after eachother like family. The first thing you may encounter will be the culture shock as you would struggle to adjust to the weather, food, transport and accent of the natives. Trust me, you will be just fine.
The opportunity to study abroad for the one year course helped me gain international experience and in-depth knowledge about the course. The most interesting part was the practical aspect which involved hands-on experience that is translated into real world situations. Additionally, I had the opportunity to sit under the tutelage of renowned professionals in my field.
I'm definitely sure you would enjoy your stay in the UK.
Regards,
Florence
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 7.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 7.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.5 |
| Overall | 7.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0
The response covers all the required bullet points of the task well. You successfully told the reader where you studied ("Davons College"), described what you learnt about the country (such as experiencing culture shock regarding weather, food, transport, and accents), and explained why the year abroad was helpful for your studies (gaining international experience, practical hands-on experience, and learning from renowned professionals). The tone is appropriately informal and friendly for a letter to a friend's sister, and the purpose of the letter is clearly achieved throughout.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0
The letter is logically organised with a clear beginning, body paragraphs addressing different aspects of the prompt, and a natural sign-off. Cohesive devices such as 'About two years ago', 'Howbeit', and 'Additionally' are used to connect ideas, though 'Howbeit' is somewhat archaic and awkward in this context. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, advice, academic benefits, and conclusion. Overall progression is clear, meeting the requirements for a Band 7 performance.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.5
You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using less common phrases such as 'academic pursuit', 'culture shock', and 'renowned professionals'. There are occasional slight inaccuracies in word choice or phrasing, such as 'Howbeit' instead of 'However', and a sentence fragment in the first paragraph ('You made all of us proud and'). Despite these minor issues, the vocabulary is adequate to convey your message clearly and naturally in most places.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5
The response features a good mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'Life in Davon was like a home away from home for me because of the international students association which I belonged to.' There are some minor grammatical errors and punctuation slips, including a missing preposition in the relative clause ('association which I belonged to' instead of 'to which I belonged') and an incomplete final sentence in the first paragraph. However, these errors do not impede communication, and you maintain good control over the majority of your sentences.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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