Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-27

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 Simar,

I hope you're doing well. I'm excited to know that you're interested in a year abroad for your university course.

I still cherish my time being in Canada last year, and I am more then happy to share my experience with you. Living in Surrey, Canada and studying at Columbia college taught me so much about Canadian culture and their daily life.

Beyond improving my fluency, I gained advnace knowledge about their believes, cultures and traditions. Living in totally different education environment was helpful in sharping my mind and boost my critical thinking, which helped develop my personality.

I believe this 1 year was helpful for my studies as I have gained valuable details and knowlegde which could't have gained from the books alone. This decisoin boosted my confidence and made me more independent.

I hope you'd find the information helpful, and feel free to reach out if you have any doubts.

Best wishes,

Sanjna

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You address all three points and maintain an appropriate, friendly tone for writing to your friend’s sister. You identify the location and institution—“Surrey, Canada” and “Columbia college”—and explain that the experience developed your knowledge of Canadian culture and supported your studies through critical thinking and independence. These ideas are relevant and the purpose is clear. However, some details are general: “their daily life” and “their believes, cultures and traditions” do not give a specific example of what you discovered, while the academic benefit could be linked more directly to your university subject. Adding one concrete cultural observation and a study-related example would extend and support your ideas more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter has a clear progression: you open warmly, describe where you studied and what you learned, explain the benefits, and close with an invitation to contact you. Paragraphing helps distinguish these stages, and linking phrases such as “Beyond” and “I believe” make the relationships between ideas understandable. The overall organisation is effective, though some connections are broad rather than precise. For example, the move from learning about Canadian culture to “improving my fluency” could be made clearer, and the final paragraph combines academic gains with personal confidence without fully showing how they relate. Use a more explicit link between each experience and its effect on your studies to make the progression more seamless.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for a personal letter, including relevant expressions such as “critical thinking,” “valuable details,” “boosted my confidence,” and “more independent.” These help communicate both academic and personal benefits. There are, however, several spelling errors and inaccurate word choices, including “advnace,” “believes,” “knowlegde,” and “decisoin.” Some collocations are also unnatural: “gained valuable details” would be better expressed as gaining knowledge or insight, and “sharping my mind” is not the natural phrase. These errors do not prevent understanding, but they limit precision. Proofread spelling and choose more natural combinations, such as “developed my critical-thinking skills” and “learned about local customs.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including the sentence beginning “Living in a totally different education environment…” and the clause “which helped develop my personality.” Most of the message remains easy to understand, and the letter’s basic sentence structure is controlled. Some grammatical errors remain, however. In “I am more then happy,” the correct form is “than”; “Living in Surrey, Canada and studying at Columbia college taught me” would be clearer with parallel phrasing and appropriate capitalisation; and “which helped develop” needs a clear subject, such as “which helped me develop.” The sentence about knowledge that “could't have gained” also needs a passive form: “couldn’t have been gained.” Review verb forms and clause construction.

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