Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-29

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 6.0)

Dear Stella,

I hope this letter finds you well. I heard you are interested to studying abroad as a part of your course. And i think this is the perfect decesion you took for making your future bright. I studied in Fairleigh Dickinson University of Vancouver campus Canada. And it was an amazing experience to live in vancouver.

While studying, i learnt many things about the country Canada like about its history, weather, culure and tradition. Canada has very informative and interesting history. And if i talk about weather, Canada has mainly 4 seasons. winter, summer, fall and rainy season. I enjoyed summer a lot in Canada. Because in summer, there were many activities to do in Canada for all age groups from kids to old age. I also learnt canada's specific traditions and festivals like Thanks giving and Remembrance day which motivated me a lot.

That year helped me a lot in my studies as well because i learnt many things for example new language which helped me to understand my course easily.

I hope you find this information helpful with your dicision with study abroad. Feel free to reach out me if you need more details.

Yours Sincerely,

Sarah

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three requested points: you identify Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Vancouver campus, mention learning about Canadian history, seasons and traditions, and explain that the experience helped you understand your course. The friendly opening and closing also suit a personal letter. The account of what you learnt is the most developed part, with examples such as summer activities and Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day. However, the study benefit is only briefly explained: “new language” is not specified, and you could show how it supported a particular subject or skill. Some claims, such as Canada’s “informative and interesting history,” remain general. Adding a specific example of what you learnt and how it helped your studies would make the response more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall arrangement: it opens with the reason for writing, moves through your experience and learning, then explains the academic benefit before closing. Paragraphing helps distinguish these stages, and phrases such as “While studying” and “That year” guide the reader. The progression is generally easy to follow, though some connections feel mechanical because several sentences begin with “And,” and “Because in summer” is separated from the sentence it explains. The transition from learning about Canada to the benefit for your studies is also abrupt. Link related ideas within sentences and use a wider range of natural transitions, while keeping the clear paragraph structure.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You have enough vocabulary to communicate the main points, including relevant terms such as “traditions,” “festivals,” “seasons” and “activities.” However, the range is limited in places, and several choices or spellings reduce precision: “interested to studying” is an awkward expression, “new language” is vague, and “perfect decesion” and “culure” contain spelling errors. Repetition of “learnt many things” and “Canada” also makes parts of the letter less varied. Aim for more precise phrases, such as naming the language or describing a specific cultural insight, and check spelling and collocations carefully. This would make the message more natural and exact without changing its friendly tone.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response uses both simple sentences and some longer structures, for example the sentence beginning “While studying” and the explanation of how the year helped your studies. Most meaning remains clear, but there are some errors in sentence construction, verb patterns, articles, capitalization and punctuation. For instance, “interested to studying” needs a different verb pattern, and “And i think” begins a sentence with an incorrectly capitalized pronoun and an unnecessary conjunction. The fragment “Because in summer…” should be joined to the preceding sentence. Try combining ideas with accurate subordinate clauses and check sentence boundaries, capitalization and article use. More consistent control of these forms would strengthen the letter.

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