Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-27

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 Sarah

I was great to hear you are spending a year studying abroad as part of university course. I have good experience when I did the same recently.

I spent my year studying at University Canada West in Vancouver British Columbia. I was lived with three friends in sharing an apartment. This is greatful experience for me because we enjoyed a lot with each other which helps to reduce tensions.

I learnt many things in this country. Firstly, I meet with different culture people and know about their traditions as well as rituals. I also learnt french language which will help me to communicate with other culture people and beneficial for me to get job opportunitie sin this country.

The year abroad was extemely helpful for me as this country has good academic environment which make me independent as well as improve my study skills. Moreover, I learn different types of method to do work in big organisations.

I would definately recommended to you spending a year studying abroad as part of university course is good.

Best wishes

Alex

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions. You successfully stated where you studied, mentioning University Canada West in Vancouver, British Columbia. You also described what you learned about the country, specifically mentioning cultural diversity, traditions, and the French language. Furthermore, you explained how the year abroad helped your studies by improving your academic environment, independence, and work methods in big organisations. The tone is appropriately informal and friendly for a letter to a friend's sister. All parts of the task are addressed, and the ideas are relevant, though some points like the work methods could be slightly more developed. Overall, this corresponds well to a Band 6.0 performance under Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphs dedicated to different aspects of your experience. You used basic cohesive devices and transition signals such as 'Firstly', 'I also', and 'Moreover' to guide the reader through your points. However, some referencing is slightly faulty or mechanical, such as 'This is greatful experience' where the reference backward is unclear. Paragraphing is generally used sufficiently and appropriately, even though the opening greeting lacks standard punctuation ('Dear Sarah'). The logical progression is clear overall, justifying a Band 6.0 score.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully communicating your message about studying abroad. You attempted some less common vocabulary items such as 'traditions', 'rituals', and 'organisations'. However, there are noticeable word choice and word formation errors throughout the text, such as 'greatful' instead of 'great', 'opportunity sin' instead of 'opportunities in', and 'definitely' misspelled as 'definately'. Additionally, some collocations are awkward, such as 'meet with different culture people' instead of 'people from different cultures'. These inaccuracies mean the response sits comfortably within the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, achieving a solid Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You demonstrated a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as using relative clauses ('which will help me...'). However, there are numerous grammatical errors throughout the letter, including tense and verb form issues like 'I was great to hear' instead of 'It was great', 'I was lived' instead of 'I lived', and 'make me independent' instead of 'made me independent'. Punctuation errors are also present, such as missing commas and periods in a few places. While these errors are frequent, they rarely impede overall communication because the meaning remains clear. This performance aligns with the Band 5.5 descriptor, which we round to 5.5.

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