Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-23

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 Cathy,

I hope this letter finds you in radiant hegalth and best of the spirits. As you are thinking to spend a year in the USA as a part of your graduation studies, I am writing my experience which will might get helpful to you.

I studied the course of environmental control in the university of southern California. I not only learned about theoritical subjects but also there were many field visits and laboratory experience with latest technological equipments. Apart from the studies I had a opportunity to get familier with the students from other countries and I learned about their culture. During the time I was there in the USA, I saw the native are very time punctual, well spoken as well as kind enough to understand other cultural values and thats what I learned there.

The year I spent there turn out to be very beneficial to me to get my internship in multinational company and It made me confident enough to go anywhere else in the world by my own. I would definitely recommend you to go abroad and study.

Yours lovingly,

Sam

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response effectively covers all bullet points required by the prompt. You clearly mentioned where you studied ("university of southern California"), described aspects of the country such as the local culture ("native are very time punctual, well spoken as well as kind"), and explained how the year was helpful for your studies and future prospects ("to get my internship in multinational company"). The tone is appropriate for an informal letter to a friend's sister, and the purpose of the communication is well-maintained throughout. Ideas are relevant and developed adequately, meeting all requirements for a Band 6.5 to 7.0 performance in this category.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter follows a logical overall structure, with an appropriate opening and closing. Paragraphing is used to separate different ideas, such as your academic experiences versus the cultural insights gained. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition "Apart from the studies I had a opportunity..." lacks smooth integration, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in "thats what I learned there." Despite these minor cohesion issues, the letter maintains a clear overall progression and is easy to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases such as "environmental control" and "multinational company." However, there are several noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, such as "hegalth" instead of health, "theoritical" instead of theoretical, "equipments" (equipment is uncountable), and "familier" instead of familiar. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating your ability to link clauses together. There are, however, several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings present, such as "As you are thinking to spend" instead of thinking of spending, "my experience which will might get helpful" which contains a double modal error, and missing articles in phrases like "in university of southern California." Punctuation errors, such as missing apostrophes in "turn out" (turned out), also occur. These errors rarely impede overall communication.

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

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