Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-01

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 Drashti,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to share my experience about spending a year studing aboad in Canada as part of my university course.

I have completed my studies from Conestoga College, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. My couse was Big Data Solution Architecture and I have completed my course in Dec,2023. At that time, I was staying with my best friend Tirtha and she is still in the Kitchener so, if you need any help regarding accomodation she will help you out.

I have learnt plethora of things while I was studying in Canada. Firstly, I have met people from different part of the globe and got to know about their culture. Secondly, people of this country are very polite and helpful so I learn those things from them. Apart fro this, I learnt patience and which is the most important life skill.

A year abroad was very helpful for my studies because I have the Co-op which is mandatory to complete the course. This internship was really helpful and because of this I am having a job at Canada's top bank.

If you will have any questions feel free to reach out to me.

All the best.

Thank you

Shraddha Kapadia

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You successfully cover all parts of the prompt by telling the reader where you studied in Canada, describing what you learned about the country and its culture, and explaining how your year abroad helped your studies through the mandatory Co-op program. The tone is appropriately friendly and informal for a letter to a friend's sister. However, some ideas show a tendency to be slightly under-developed or brief, particularly when describing what you learned about the country, which remains somewhat general when mentioning politeness and patience. To reach a higher band, you would need to extend and support your ideas with more detailed elaboration and specific examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

Your letter has a coherent overall arrangement with a logical flow from your opening greeting to your closing remarks. You use standard paragraphing to separate your introduction, study details, cultural takeaways, study benefits, and conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Apart fro this' are used to guide the reader through your points, though some referencing and transitions feel slightly mechanical. To move further up the band scale, you should ensure that cohesive devices are used more flexibly and smoothly, avoiding repetitive transitional structures while maintaining an unmistakably clear progression of ideas throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases such as 'plethora of things' and 'Big Data Solution Architecture'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that detract from the precision of your writing, including 'studing', 'aboad', 'couse', 'accomodation', and the prepositional slip 'in Canada's top bank' instead of 'at'. These spelling and lexical inaccuracies do not impede overall communication, but they highlight limitations in lexical control. To achieve a higher band, you need to use a wider and more precise range of vocabulary with accurate spelling and natural collocations consistently.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses and conditional forms such as 'if you need any help regarding accomodation she will help you out.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation present throughout the letter, such as missing articles, tense inconsistencies like 'I have completed my studies' combined with past time references, and punctuation errors around the date 'Dec,2023'. Fortunately, these errors rarely impede communication. To attain a higher band, you need to produce a greater proportion of error-free sentences and demonstrate more consistent control over complex grammatical structures and punctuation.

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

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