Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-22

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 7.0)

Dear Amanda,

I hope you are doing well. I heard from your sister that you are planning to go abroad for a year as part of your university course. I think this would be a great opportunity. I also studied abroad during my university years. I would like to give you some advise which will be helpful during your academic journey.

As I was enrolled in hotel management, my university offered me a scholarship to study in France for one year as part of my curriculum. During my stay in France, I explored so many places in the country and also learned about its traditions and culture. Moreover, as my course was in hotel management, I learned to cook various French cuisines. This experience not only improved my academic knowledge but also helped me explore different cuisines outside my syllabus.

This academic course was so helpful to my studies, as I got to know about French culture and its traditional food. Also, I learned a new language, which I further implemented during my academic journey, and gained extra credits towards my GPA

I hope that this information will be helpful to you, and I wish you success on your academic journey

Best wishes,

Aron

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have successfully covered all the bullet points required in the prompt. You clearly stated where you studied by mentioning that you went to France for one year. You described what you learned about the country, specifically pointing out its traditions, culture, and various French cuisines. Furthermore, you explained how the year abroad was helpful for your studies by noting that it improved your academic knowledge, allowed you to learn a new language, and helped you gain extra credits towards your GPA. Your tone is appropriately friendly and conversational, fitting the letter format to a friend's sister. The ideas are relevant and well-developed, satisfying the requirements for this task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

Your letter has a clear overall progression and is logically organised into appropriate paragraphs. Each paragraph serves a distinct purpose, moving from the greeting and introduction to your destination, what you learned, how it helped your studies, and a polite sign-off. You use cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'as my course was', and 'This academic course was so helpful' to connect your ideas. However, referencing and transitions between sentences could sometimes be smoother to achieve a higher band. For instance, the transition into the third paragraph repeats similar ideas from the second paragraph ('This academic course was so helpful to my studies'), making the flow slightly repetitive rather than progressively developed.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'enrolled in hotel management', 'scholarship', 'curriculum', and 'academic journey'. There is an attempt to use less common vocabulary, and your meaning is clear throughout. However, there is a spelling error ('advise' should be the noun 'advice'), and some phrasing is a bit repetitive, such as repeatedly using the words 'academic' and 'studies' in close proximity. Despite these minor issues, your lexical resource is sufficient to convey your message naturally and effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

You display a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional-style conjunctions effectively, such as 'I heard from your sister that you are planning to go abroad...' and 'This experience not only improved my academic knowledge but also helped me explore different cuisines...'. Your control of grammar is generally good, and the majority of your sentences are easily understood. There are a few minor punctuation and capitalisation slips, such as missing full stops at the very ends of some paragraphs, but these errors rarely impede communication and do not obscure your meaning.

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

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