Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-31

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 Jasmine,

I'm writing this letter to express my thoughts over an overseas studies for a year that I have done a couple years ago.

The most important things, where I studied: Vancouver Community College, in Downtown. This college provides an excellent options of courses to enroll, like Dental, Healthcare, Hotel Management and more. I was selected for a year in Hospitality Management.

Canada has multiple cultural people. I made friends from different countries and languages. Everyone was helpfull and kind. Also, it was easy to gel up with people, as I have more than 20 classmates from distant parts of the world and I worked in a restaurent, where I met friendly staff and customers.

I honestly believe, it was the best decision of my life because I learnt and improved my interpersonal and working skills. I worked and paid all of my fees by myself, instead of getting help from my parents. I have learned life lessons that I might not experienced in my homecountry.

I wish a good luck to you and have a safe new journey of the life. Let me know, if you need any further help.

Best regards,

Jaspreet Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three requested points: you identify Vancouver Community College, describe meeting people from different countries and experiencing Canadian social life, and explain that the year improved your interpersonal and work skills. The letter is relevant and its friendly purpose is clear. However, the description of what you learnt about Canada is mainly about the people you met, rather than broader learning about the country, and the study benefit is stated generally rather than linked to your Hospitality Management course. The details about paying your fees and working in a restaurant add personal context, but could be connected more explicitly to your academic development. More specific examples and fuller development of these points would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall sequence: it introduces the experience, gives details about the college and people, explains personal benefits, and closes with encouragement. Paragraphing helps distinguish these stages, and links such as “Also” and “because” make some relationships clear. At times, however, the progression within paragraphs is less smooth: the college’s course options lead abruptly to your own selection, while the paragraph about Canada shifts from cultural diversity to classmates and then restaurant work. Some transitions feel mechanical, and the opening phrase “The most important things, where I studied” does not clearly introduce the information that follows. Use more precise topic sentences and connect each example directly to the point it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main experience, including relevant terms such as “Hospitality Management,” “interpersonal,” and “working skills.” There are also attempts at more expressive language, such as “gel up with people,” but this is not a natural collocation in this context. Several noticeable word-choice, word-form, and spelling problems reduce precision: “multiple cultural people” is unclear, “an excellent options” is inaccurate, and “restaurent” and “homecountry” are misspelled or incorrectly formed. These issues do not prevent the reader from understanding the overall message, but they make parts of the letter sound unnatural. Aim for accurate, conventional collocations and check spelling and word forms carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and more developed sentences, including a reason clause in “because I learnt and improved…” and a relative clause in “where I met friendly staff and customers.” The main message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “an overseas studies” has an incorrect article and noun form, “This college provides an excellent options” has an agreement problem, and “I might not experienced” uses an incorrect verb form. The sentence beginning “The most important things, where I studied” is also structurally incomplete. Review articles, subject–verb agreement, and verb forms after modal verbs, and make sure each sentence has a clear grammatical structure. More accurate control of these patterns would strengthen the letter.

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