Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-17
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 Rani,
Subject: Sharing experience studying abroad
I hope you are doing well!
The purpose of writing this letter is to share my experience studying overseas. I enrolled in University of Toronto, located In Toronto, Canada, a couple of years ago. I have grduated in Electrical Engineering Technician program which was intially 2 years. However, it reduced to one year only, as I have used credit transfer facility using my under graduate program, which I did from home country. This certificate helped me to secure a high paying job as I work as senior manager in electrical company known as Electra.
This country did not only provided me with the graduation certificate but also gave a chance to work here. During my studies, I developed a new skill, and got enough opportunities to engage in Canadian Culture. Moreover, residents of this country are exceptionally friendly because they do not let anyone feel leftover or lonely. One thing I want to inform you is that this place remains covered in white snow for more 8 months a year. Although this looks hard, you would definitily enjoy the nostalgic beauty rather then thinking of survival.
I would certainly recommend you to pursue your study from here.
Yours faithfully
Manish
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.0 |
| Overall | 6.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5
The response covers all three bullet points from the prompt effectively. The student states where they studied by mentioning the University of Toronto in Canada, describes what they learned about the country such as the friendly residents and the snowy climate, and explains why the year abroad was helpful for their career progression and studies. The tone is appropriate for a semi-formal letter to a friend's sister, although the inclusion of a subject line is slightly unnatural for a personal letter. The ideas are relevant and adequately supported, fulfilling the Band 7 requirements for Task Achievement.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5
The letter is logically organised with a clear beginning, body paragraphs, and a sign-off. Cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'Although', and 'However' are used to connect ideas, though some transitions feel a bit mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different topics, such as the academic background in the first body paragraph and the cultural observations in the second. Referencing is generally clear, allowing the reader to follow the progression of ideas easily, matching the characteristics of Band 6.5 to 7.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.0
The student uses a sufficient range of vocabulary to communicate effectively, with some attempts at less common items such as 'credit transfer facility', 'nostalgic beauty', and 'exceptionally friendly'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'grduated in Electrical Engineering Technician program' instead of 'graduated from', 'from home country' missing an article, and 'remains covered in white snow for more 8 months' missing the word 'than'. These errors do not impede communication, placing the response squarely at Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate structures like 'Although this looks hard, you would definitely enjoy...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including tense inconsistencies ('as I have used' instead of 'as I used'), missing prepositions ('studying from here' instead of 'studying here'), and spelling mistakes ('grduated', 'intially', 'definitily'). While these errors do not prevent the message from being understood, they limit the grammatical control to a Band 6.0 level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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