Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-19

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 Nisha,

How are you and how is your studies going on? I recently came to know about your plan of studying abroad for a year. I must say, I am really happy with your decision.

Nisha, I am sure your sister Nishi must have discussed with you about my stay abroad as part of my university course.I had studied in the University of Waterloo, Ontario for a year. I opted psycology as my main subject at that time.

As I mentioned, that my university was at Ontario, and it was the huge university expanded in more than 400 acres of land. Ontario itself is a very beautiful place to live. In fact, many Indians prefer Ontario for studies as Universities there offer huge range of courses to select from. You will find many Indians there and it is very easy to get Indian food in many resturants there. So, you do not have to worry about it at all. Additionally, the Niagara Fall, we talked about recently is also in Ontario. Therefore, during weekends you will have lot of options to explore the beauty of this country.

Now, talking about studies I did there. Nisha, I must say that I got huge exposure during my one year course there. The techniques used for teaching and infrastructure there is far better than what we get in our own country. Moreover, collaborating with international students gives chance to strong academic network building, which we lack in our country.

So, just relax and start preparing for a complete new experience. You will learn alot from this.

Take care and good luck for your future endeveour.

Love,

Shelley

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student successfully addresses all three bullet points required in the task instructions. First, the writer specifies the location of their studies by stating, 'I had studied in the University of Waterloo, Ontario for a year.' Second, details about the country are provided, highlighting aspects such as the local infrastructure, the presence of Indian food and culture, and nearby attractions like 'the Niagara Fall.' Third, the educational benefits are explained by discussing how the teaching techniques and 'collaborating with international students' helped build a strong academic network. The tone is appropriately friendly and conversational for a letter to a friend's sister, and the purpose of the letter is fully realised throughout the response, earning a solid band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter exhibits a clear logical organisation and natural progression throughout. The response is divided into logical paragraphs, beginning with a warm greeting and opening remarks, moving into the specific details about the university and Ontario, discussing the academic benefits, and concluding with encouraging words. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'Additionally,' 'Moreover,' and 'Therefore.' However, there are some minor mechanical links and occasional referencing issues, such as 'As I mentioned, that my university was at Ontario,' where punctuation and phrasing could be smoother. Overall, the paragraphing is used appropriately and the overall arrangement is coherent, fitting the descriptors for a band 7.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary suitable for a general task. Phrases like 'huge exposure,' 'academic network building,' and 'complete new experience' are used appropriately. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and spelling, such as 'psycology' instead of 'psychology,' 'resturants' instead of 'restaurants,' and 'endeveour' instead of 'endeavour.' Furthermore, some expressions are slightly repetitive or informal, such as 'huge range of courses' and 'huge university.' While these lexical errors and minor spelling slips do not impede communication, they prevent the piece from reaching a higher band, placing it firmly at band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including relative clauses and conditional structures (e.g., 'You will find many Indians there and it is very easy to get Indian food...'). There are, however, several grammatical errors throughout the text. For instance, the opening sentence contains a subject-verb agreement error: 'how is your studies going on' instead of 'how are your studies going.' Other errors include preposition misuse, such as 'at Ontario' instead of 'in Ontario,' and minor punctuation slips. Despite these errors, they rarely impede communication, and the writer demonstrates adequate control of basic grammar, supporting a band 6 score.

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

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