Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-14

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 7.5)

Dear Sarah,

It's great to hear that you're considering spending a year studying abroad. Having recently returned from my own exchange year, I am more than happy to share my experience with you.

I spent my year abroad studying at the University of Toronto in Canada. Living there was an incredible experience. During my stay, I learned Canadian society id deeply multicultural and welcoming. People from vastly different backgrounds lives harmoniously, which taught me a lot about cultural tolerance. I also discovered, how much Canadians value punctuality and community engagement in their daily lives.

Academically, the trip was highly beneficial. The university offered state-of the-art facilities that allowed me to complete my graduation thesis smoothly. Furthermore, adapting to a completely different, highly interactive educational system made me a more independent thinker and significantly boosted my academic confidence.

I highly recommend taking this opportunity. Please let me know if you need any advise regarding the application process.

Warm regards,

Amreen

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

You address all three points clearly: you identify the University of Toronto in Canada, describe its multicultural and welcoming society, and explain how the facilities and interactive teaching supported your thesis and independence. The letter also maintains an appropriate, friendly tone, with a useful offer to help Sarah with her application. The ideas are relevant and supported with specific details, such as learning about cultural tolerance and gaining academic confidence. Some points remain quite general, however: the description of Canadian life could include a concrete example, and the link between the year abroad and your university studies could be explained in more detail. This keeps the response from developing every idea fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.5

The letter is organised in a clear progression: an opening that responds to Sarah’s plans, a paragraph about the destination and cultural learning, a paragraph on academic benefits, and a friendly closing. Linking expressions such as “During my stay,” “Furthermore,” and “Please let me know” help guide the reader, while the paragraphing suits the letter format. The progression is easy to follow throughout. To make the cohesion more polished, connect some details within the paragraphs more explicitly—for example, show how observing community engagement changed your perspective, rather than listing it alongside punctuality. The transitions are effective overall, though a few feel slightly formulaic.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.5

You use a good range of vocabulary for a personal letter, including “multicultural,” “cultural tolerance,” “state-of-the-art facilities,” “interactive educational system,” and “academic confidence.” These choices communicate your experience precisely and show awareness of an appropriately warm, semi-formal style. A few word-choice and spelling slips reduce the consistency of this control: “advise” should be the noun “advice,” and “graduation thesis” may be more naturally expressed as “undergraduate thesis” or “dissertation,” depending on your course. “Incredible experience” is clear but fairly general; a more specific description would add precision. Overall, the vocabulary is flexible and effective, with occasional inaccuracies rather than any difficulty conveying meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex structures, including the opening participial phrase “Having recently returned…” and the sentence explaining how adapting to a different educational system made you more independent. Many sentences are accurate and easy to understand. A few errors persist: “society id” should be “society is,” “People … lives” should be “People … live,” and the comma after “discovered” is unnecessary. There is also a missing hyphen in “state-of the-art,” though this is primarily a spelling and word-form issue. Proofreading subject–verb agreement and punctuation would improve accuracy while preserving the variety of structures already present.

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