Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-28

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 Bela,

Hope this letter finds you in radiant health. I received your letter yesterday. I'm glad to hear that you're also thinking to study abroad and require advice from my last year experience. I have recently completed my graduation in Master of Physiotherapy at Alberta University.

I learnt so many things during my course journey. I got chance to meet and work with great personalities & gain usefull knowledge and advanced hands on skills in Physiotherapy pediatric field. Earning with learning is another great experience that I had.

Additionally, I learnt new languages and culture during my academic study.

Overall, I would say that the year abroad help me to improve my practical knowledge as well as advance assessment techniques, help

to get faster recovery in my patients.

Moreover, study abroad provides better working opportunities.

I hope this information will help to you to decision in building your career.

Yours faithfully,

Bijal

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response covers all three bullet points from the prompt in a general way, telling the reader where the study took place ('Alberta University'), describing aspects learnt about the country ('new languages and culture'), and explaining how it helped studies ('improve my practical knowledge'). However, the development of these ideas is rather limited and basic. For instance, the descriptions of what was learnt remain superficial, lacking specific details about the cultural or academic environment. The tone is mostly appropriate for an informal letter to a friend's sister, though the sign-off 'Yours faithfully' is formal and incorrect for addressing an acquaintance (it should be 'Best wishes' or 'Yours sincerely'). Overall, the task is addressed adequately, satisfying the core requirements while remaining brief in its elaboration, placing it firmly at a Band 6.0 level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the information logically. The writing uses some cohesive devices such as 'Additionally', 'Overall', and 'Moreover', though these transitions feel somewhat mechanical and forced. Paragraphing is attempted, but the paragraphs are overly fragmented into very short single-sentence blocks, which disrupts the natural flow of the text. Referencing is generally clear, but the lack of smooth transitions between the isolated sentences hinders overall cohesion. Based on these features, where cohesion is at times mechanical and paragraphing is inadequate, the response fits the Band 5.5 to 6.0 profile, earning a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting some less common collocations such as 'radiant health', 'advanced hands on skills', and 'practical knowledge'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as writing 'thinking to study' instead of 'thinking of studying', 'gain usefull knowledge' (misspelled 'useful'), and 'help to get faster recovery' instead of 'helping patients recover faster'. The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, but errors in spelling and collocation prevent the text from achieving a higher band. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors for Lexical Resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence forms. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, such as tense and infinitive mistakes ('thinking to study', 'the year abroad help me', 'help to get faster recovery', 'help to you to decision'), as well as punctuation and preposition tracking issues. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the writing from reaching Band 6.5. The frequent minor errors alongside basic structures place this response squarely at a Band 5.5.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.