Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-06

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 Keya,

It has been a long time since we caught up. I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to share my experience of studying abroad at Concordia University in Canada.

To begin with, I was studying Applied Computer Science course at Concordia University in Montreal. Additionally, Concordia University is highly reputed university which is ranked among the top five hundred universities around the globe. It has two campuses and diverse set of students.

Canada has two official languages English and French. Aforementioned, I was located in Quebec province which is the only French speaking province in whole of Canada. Apart from that, Montreal is a vibrant city with a touch of European architecture. I also got a chance to visit Financial Capital of Canada i.e Toronto city. It has numerous beautiful touristic attractions and I learnt various things about Canadian culture during that trip.

I was able to acquire professional skills which helps me accelerate in my career till date. For instance, I took part in an industry based project where I got a chance to work on a project for a Tech company in order to recieve a passing grade in that subject.

Let me know if you have any more questions. I would be happy to answer them.

Lots of love,

Het

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You successfully cover all parts of the bullet points required in the task instructions. You state where you studied clearly by mentioning Concordia University in Canada, describe what you learnt about the country such as the official languages and regional characteristics of Quebec, and explain how the year abroad was helpful for your studies by highlighting professional skills gained through an industry-based project. However, while all parts are addressed, some ideas remain slightly under-developed rather than fully extended. For instance, the description of Canadian culture could be elaborated further with more specific details beyond visiting tourist attractions. To reach a higher band, ensure that every bullet point is fully expanded with deeper explanations and richer supporting details.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

Your letter demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression of ideas from your greeting and introduction to your university experience, cultural insights, academic benefits, and closing remarks. You use standard informal and semi-formal letter conventions and paragraphing effectively, giving each topic its own clear section. Nevertheless, some cohesive devices feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, such as the transition phrases 'To begin with' and 'Additionally'. Additionally, the referencing device 'Aforementioned' is awkwardly phrased at the start of a sentence. To achieve a higher level, focus on integrating cohesive devices more naturally and ensuring smooth, fluid transitions between your sentences and paragraphs without relying on formulaic connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully attempting less common items like 'vibrant city', 'European architecture', and 'professional skills'. Communication is clear throughout, and your vocabulary choices are generally appropriate for a semi-formal letter to a friend's sister. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing. For example, writing 'studying Applied Computer Science course' is grammatically imprecise (it should be 'studied the Applied Computer Science course' or simply 'studied Applied Computer Science'), 'highly reputed university' lacks an article ('a highly reputed university'), and 'recieve' contains a spelling error. To move up to the next band, refine your precision in word choice and eliminate spelling slips while maintaining your varied vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You demonstrate a reasonable mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and adverbial clauses effectively, such as 'which is the only French speaking province' and 'where I got a chance to work'. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, but they are relatively minor and rarely impede communication. Examples include missing articles like 'a diverse set' and 'the Financial Capital', as well as awkward phrasing like 'whole of Canada' instead of 'the whole of Canada'. To reach a higher band, aim for a greater proportion of error-free complex sentences and ensure tighter control over articles, prepositions, and noun phrase agreements.

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