Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-21

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 priya,

I hope you are doing well. your sister told me about you are thinking to go to abroad for your higher education. I have been here for last 2 years. therefore, I have a knowledge about education here as an international student.so, I want to share with you about this.

I pursued my degree from yorkville university and I suggest you to take admission in this university because we have the same course. this university is well known here for the master degree. moreover, the lifestyle here is different from India. might be it will be challenging for you to adjust in this atmosphere however, it will take a few weeks but I'm sure you will fix here in this lifestyle.

In my perspective, doing master in abroad has been have me lots of opportunity in my life. I would encourage you to go to abroad and do your higher education.

best of luck for your future and your journey.

Best wishes,

Keya Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all three bullet points from the prompt, although some parts are slightly vague or generalized. You successfully mentioned where you studied ("yorkville university") and touched upon what you learned about the country by contrasting the lifestyle with India and noting that it can be challenging to adjust. You also explained why the year abroad was helpful for your studies, mentioning that doing a Master's degree has provided you with lots of opportunities and that your university is well known for Master's degrees. However, the tone shifts slightly between talking to a friend's sister and offering formal-sounding university advice. To reach a higher band, ensure all points are fully developed with specific personal anecdotes or vivid details rather than broad generalisations.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is generally clear and easy to follow, using standard informal letter openings and closings such as "Dear priya," and "Best wishes,". Paragraphing is used to separate the introduction, the body paragraphs detailing the university experience and lifestyle, and the concluding encouragement. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly placed, such as starting sentences with "therefore," or "so,". Additionally, referencing is occasionally imprecise, as in "I have been here for last 2 years," where the time reference is slightly clumsy. Organisation provides a coherent overall arrangement, but logical transitions between sentences could be smoothed out for a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task and communicates your meaning effectively, but it relies on common, everyday terms and shows some repetition, such as using "lifestyle" and "university" multiple times. There are also noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as saying "thinking to go to abroad" instead of "thinking of going abroad," "take admission" instead of "enroll," and saying "you will fix here in this lifestyle" instead of "you will fit in." These vocabulary limitations and word choice inaccuracies place the response securely in the band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over punctuation and sentence structure. However, there are several grammatical errors throughout the letter. Examples include capitalization issues ("priya", "your sister"), incorrect prepositional use and verb patterns ("thinking to go to abroad" instead of "thinking of going abroad"), and missing articles ("has been have me lots of opportunity"). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from achieving a higher band score. Improving your control over verb tenses and infinitive/gerund patterns will greatly strengthen your writing.

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

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