Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-14

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 Sara,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am really glade to hear that you are thinking about spending a year of your course at abroad university.

I would like to share my excellent experience with you. I spent my final year at the Manchester University. Although, it was very hectic but I tried my hard to overcome all the problems. First of all, I struggled to mitigate the home sickness in an other country. Secondly, I had to manage all my works myself that was very tiring. However, gradually all these problems were solved with conscious efforts.

But what I learnt, was amazing and unforgettable. I learnt the value of hard work and perseverance. My communication skills improved. I learnt the importance of social intelligence, and social skills, when we interact with different cultures. All these qualities enhance not only my academic growth but also my personality.

I would recommend you to take benefits from this golden opportunity.

With best wishes.

Yours sincerely,

Sobia.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The candidate has successfully addressed all three bullet points required by the task prompt. First, she clearly tells the reader where she studied ('Manchester University'). Second, she describes what she learned about the country, mentioning personal growth, overcoming homesickness, and managing tasks independently. Third, she explains how the year abroad helped her studies by enhancing her academic growth, communication skills, and social intelligence. The tone is appropriately friendly and personal for a General Training letter to a friend's sister. Although some points could be expanded with more specific detail, the ideas are fully relevant and directly respond to the prompt instructions. The response satisfies all requirements of the task effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter follows a clear, logical organisation. It opens with an appropriate greeting and pleasantries, moves through the structured body paragraphs addressing the prompts, and closes with standard sign-offs. Cohesive devices such as 'First of all', 'Secondly', 'However', and 'What I learnt' are used to connect ideas, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used adequately to separate the introduction, the discussion of challenges, the lessons learned, and the conclusion. Referencing is generally clear, and the progression of thoughts makes the letter easy to follow from start to finish.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The candidate uses a sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'perseverance', 'mitigate', 'home sickness', and 'social intelligence'. However, there are notable word choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as writing 'glade' instead of 'glad', 'at abroad university' instead of 'at a university abroad', and 'manage all my works' instead of 'manage all my work'. Collocations are occasionally awkward, such as 'tried my hard'. Despite these flaws, the vocabulary is adequate to convey the intended meaning without causing serious strain to the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses ('Although it was very hectic but...') and relative clauses. However, there is a recurring issue with redundant conjunctions, as seen in the phrase 'Although it was very hectic but I tried...', which contains a double connector error. Other grammatical slips include missing articles or preposition errors ('in an other country'). While punctuation and sentence structure are generally understandable, the frequency of basic grammatical errors prevents the response from reaching a higher band score.

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

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