Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-09

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 Sara,

It has been so long since we last talked. I heard that you are planning to pursue your Master's degree in the UK. I did the same, so I would be able to guide you better.

I completed my post graduation from the Cardiff University in the UK. I decided to do my final year there because it is a very vibrant city with a different culture and traditional food.

This country gave me so many new experiences. I learnt about the country's cultural and historical places. For the very first time in my entire life, I tried english food. Moreover, I met many people from different cultural backgrounds and observed their lifestyles. Furthermore, this country offers high-paying jobs in various professions, which is extremely hard to get in our country. People over there greatly appreciate work-life balance.

I find this opportunity extremely beneficial because during my studies, I did part-time internship which gave me hands-on-experience related to my field, which made my concepts more understandable. I became confident in public speaking and presentations and greatly improved my communication skills.

I hope to see you soon. Let me know if you need any additional information.

Best wishes,

Sarosh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three points: you identify Cardiff University in the UK, describe cultural and historical experiences, and explain how an internship and improved communication skills helped your studies. The personal, friendly tone is appropriate for writing to Sara. However, some points are less fully developed than others. The country-learning section gives broad observations about jobs and work-life balance, but these are not clearly connected to what you personally learned or supported with a specific example. Also, saying you completed postgraduate study and chose your final year there leaves the study arrangement slightly unclear. Clarifying that you spent a year abroad as part of your course, then adding one concrete example of learning, would make the response more complete and developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall arrangement: an opening, paragraphs about your studies and experiences, an explanation of academic benefits, and a suitable closing. The sequence is easy to follow, and phrases such as “Moreover” and “Furthermore” help connect related points. At times, however, these linking words make the middle paragraph feel like a list, rather than showing how the observations relate to one another. The reference to “This country” is understandable, but repeating or varying the reference to the UK more precisely would make the progression clearer. Grouping cultural learning separately from employment and lifestyle observations, and using a more natural transition into the academic benefits, would make cohesion more flexible and less mechanical.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an adequate range for a personal letter, including relevant expressions such as “cultural and historical places,” “different cultural backgrounds,” and “public speaking and presentations.” These choices communicate your experience clearly, and the tone is generally suitable. There are also attempts at more specific vocabulary, though some combinations are not fully natural: “post graduation” and “hands-on-experience” would be better expressed as “postgraduate studies” and “hands-on experience.” “English food” is understandable but broad; naming a dish or describing British cuisine would be more precise. The phrase “high-paying jobs … extremely hard to get in our country” is also a sweeping comparison. More precise wording and a few natural collocations would add flexibility and accuracy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, and several sentences are controlled well, such as “I became confident in public speaking and presentations and greatly improved my communication skills.” The longer sentence beginning “I find this opportunity extremely beneficial because…” shows an attempt to explain cause and effect, but its structure becomes difficult to follow because several ideas are joined together. There are also some errors in grammatical form and article use, including “from the Cardiff University” (normally “from Cardiff University”) and “I did part-time internship” (which needs an article, such as “a part-time internship”). Breaking the long sentence into two and checking articles and sentence boundaries would improve accuracy while preserving your range.

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