Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-24

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 Grace

I hope you are doing great and getting excited to begin your new adventure. I am writting this letter to tell you about my experience.

During my year abroad, I studied at the University of Dallas in the State of Texas, United States of America. The University is very close to the airport so, you don't need to be worried about commuting for a long distance and getting lost upon arrival.

I learnt quite a lot about America. People in Texas are very friendly and welcoming, they will make you feel part of the family. There are a lot of fast foods that taste very different therefore, you might consider bring some few food because there are some days that you will not like the food at all. It's one of the hottest States in America, you don't have to be worried about harsh winter weathers.

My year abroad was of paramount importance. I grasped a lot of concepts that i'm using right now to deliver my lessons here in Zimbabwe. I get to learn different languages because during my attachment , I met a student who was multilingual.

I hope I was able to answer your questions, and don't hesitate to ask questions, I wish you the best and excited for you

Kind regards

Rudaviro

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response covers all the required bullet points of the task effectively. You successfully stated where you studied by mentioning the University of Dallas in Texas, US. You also described what you learnt about the country, noting the friendliness of the people, the food differences, and the climate. Furthermore, you explained how the year abroad was helpful for your studies by highlighting how the concepts and multilingual exposure helped your teaching career in Zimbabwe. The tone is appropriate for an informal letter to a friend's sister, and ideas are well-developed throughout. This meets the criteria for a solid Band 7.0 performance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter maintains a clear logical organisation and progression. It starts with an appropriate informal greeting, moves smoothly through the required prompts paragraph by paragraph, and ends with a polite sign-off. Cohesive devices such as 'During my year abroad', 'therefore', and 'Furthermore' are used adequately to connect ideas, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct topics like location, cultural observations, and academic benefits. Referencing is mostly clear, though a few minor shifts in focus occur. This performance aligns well with a Band 6.5 descriptor profile.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a general letter, successfully attempting some less common lexical items such as 'paramount importance', 'multilingual', and 'attachment'. However, there are some noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'writting' instead of 'writing', 'bring some few food' instead of 'bring some food' or 'bring a few snacks', and the incorrect use of 'fast foods' as a countable noun. These errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score. This performance reflects Band 6.0 standards.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The letter includes a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and relative clauses ('there are some days that you will not like the food at all'). However, there are persistent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text. Examples include missing commas in compound sentences ('People in Texas are very friendly and welcoming, they will make...'), comma splices, lowercase 'i' in 'i'm', and minor preposition or article issues ('harsh winter weathers'). While these errors rarely impede communication, they prevent the grammar score from reaching higher bands. This is a clear Band 6.0 performance.

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