Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Dear Shweta,

I hope you are doing good, I writing to share my experience of my studies abroad.

To be honest, my experience here has been so grateful lately. I have been studied in one of the top colleges of Ontario which is Humber College, as you know i have studied Project Management graduate certificate.

I have been living in Brampton which is a best city to live specially for our indian communities. Throughout the year i was doing part time job while attending college. This lifestyle teached me so much about myself, I have learnt time management, cooking, how to deal with difficult personalities, and more than that financial management.

This year changed me completely as a person. I just want to tell you that if you are interested in abroad studies its a good life changing decision, however you have to come with that mindset, courage and patience. I know you and I can surely tell you that you have that capability to survive alone and manage everything by yourself.

Lastly, if you need any help from me just let me know I always there to assist you, hope to see you soon. My Greetings to your sister and your family.

Yours beloved,

Dharmisha.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have addressed all parts of the letter prompt effectively. You clearly stated where you studied by mentioning Humber College in Ontario and Brampton. You described what you learned about the country, highlighting aspects such as living arrangements, part-time work, and the Indian community presence. Furthermore, you explained how the year abroad helped your studies by pointing out the development of time management and financial independence. The tone is informal and appropriate for a letter to a friend's sister. While some ideas could be slightly more expanded, all bullet points are covered well, earning you a solid band score for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

Your letter flows reasonably well with a logical progression from your personal experience to advice for Shweta. You used basic paragraphing to separate your introduction, location details, personal growth, and closing remarks. However, some transitions feel a bit abrupt, and there are mechanical cohesive issues, such as run-on sentences and punctuation slips (e.g., lowercase 'i' in several places). Referencing is generally clear, but paragraphing could be structured more cohesively to guide the reader smoothly between distinct thoughts. Overall organisation is clear, satisfying the requirements for a band 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a general letter, using phrases like 'life changing decision' and 'difficult personalities'. However, there are some noticeable vocabulary and word choice errors, such as writing 'I writing' instead of 'I am writing', 'so grateful lately' which is unnatural in this context, and 'teached' instead of 'taught'. While you attempt some less common vocabulary items, these inaccuracies restrict your score. Despite these errors, the message remains clear throughout, aligning with the descriptors for band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures ('if you are interested in abroad studies its a good life changing decision') and relative clauses ('which is a best city'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including missing auxiliary verbs ('I writing', 'I have been studied', 'i was doing'), incorrect past tense forms ('teached'), and punctuation or comma splices. Although these errors do not prevent comprehension, they occur frequently enough to prevent you from reaching a higher band. Your grammatical control is characteristic of band 5.5.

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

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