Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-28

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,

I hope you are doing well, and say my greetings to Martin as well. I received your letter last week and I was thrilled to learn that you have been selected to complete the rest of your university course abroad. I am really sorry I could not respond to you right away due to a busy schedule, but I hope this reaches you before your deadine to accept the offer.

I took the same route like you in my university course but I chose Finland's Helsinki University for the rest of my course rather than going to spain. The main reason for this was that as I was pursuing a game designer course and Finland being one of the global hubs for game development industry and high education standard was the perfect choice.

My year at Finland has been an overall very satisfactory and great experience. It is one of the most prosperous countries in the world in terms of social welfare and government support. The people are amazing here and the living standard is quite high as compared to most of Europe.

After spending a year abroad I was able to get the required exposure which I would have not been able to get if I had stayed nack in the UK. I have acquired the hands on industry experience here which has really helped me to excel in my career.

At the end, I would just like to say that I wish you the very best for year ahead and you would really benefit from it.

Yours Sincerely,

Musab Khan

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three points: you identify Helsinki University in Finland, describe its social welfare, government support and living standards, and explain that industry exposure helped your career. The personal, friendly tone is appropriate for writing to Sara. However, the country description is quite general, and the explanation of how the experience helped your university studies is less fully developed: the response focuses mainly on career benefits rather than giving a specific example of knowledge or skills that supported your course. The opening also spends considerable space on apologies and background. To strengthen the response, add a concrete detail about Finnish culture or daily life and explain precisely how your studies benefited.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall arrangement, with separate paragraphs for the choice of university, impressions of Finland, and the benefits of studying abroad. This makes the main points easy to locate, and the closing is suitable for the relationship. Some links are less smooth or precise, however. For example, “I took the same route like you” is an awkward transition into the explanation of your choice, while “At the end” does not connect naturally to the concluding advice. The opening also includes several details before reaching the main subject. Use more natural transitions and ensure each paragraph develops one point clearly; this would make the progression feel more flexible rather than occasionally mechanical.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an adequate range for a personal letter, including phrases such as “global hubs,” “social welfare,” “government support,” and “hands on industry experience.” These choices communicate your meaning and show some ambition beyond basic vocabulary. There are also several inaccurate or unnatural expressions that limit precision, such as “took the same route like you,” “at Finland,” and “high education standard.” Spelling errors such as “deadine” and “nack” are noticeable, and “satisfactory and great” is repetitive. Aim for more natural collocations and proofread carefully. More precise vocabulary about what you observed or learned in Finland would also make the country description more informative.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including the longer explanation beginning “The main reason for this was that…,” and your meaning is generally clear. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly in sentence construction and verb forms. For example, “I hope you are doing well, and say my greetings” does not maintain a parallel structure; “I would have not been able to get” has an awkward placement of “not”; and “you would really benefit from it” shifts into an unsuitable conditional form for your advice. There are also punctuation and sentence-boundary issues in the long sentence about Finland’s game-development industry. Review parallel phrasing, conditional forms, and sentence punctuation to improve accuracy.

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