Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-13

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You enjoy walking in the countryside near your home. However, you are noticing that there is more and more litter left there by other walkers.

Write a letter to your local newspaper. In your letter

• say why you enjoy walking and where

• describe the litter you have seen on your walks

• suggest what might be done about the problem

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter to tell you about a problem in the countryside near my home.

I enjoy walking in the countryside because it is quite calm and relaxing. The air is very fresh and some of the views are very nice. I usually walk in the park near my house called rizal park.

But now seeing trash pile up along the walking path is deeply discouraging. I can see plastic bottles, paper, food bags, cans, and animal poop everywhere. And some people also leave rubbish near the trees and by the lake. This place is dirty and it is not nice for animals.

I think we need to do something about this maybe the council can put more rubbish bins in the park. And also we can put signs to tell the people "please do not litter". And also schools can help clean the area too.

I hope you can write about this in the newspaper so more people will know.

Yours faithfully,

Michael

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The letter addresses all three points and maintains a clear purpose: you explain why you enjoy walking, describe the litter, and suggest ways to tackle it. Details such as the fresh air, views, plastic bottles, cans and rubbish near the lake make the situation easy to understand. Your proposals—more bins, signs and school clean-ups—are relevant, though they are presented briefly; explaining how these measures could change walkers’ behaviour would extend the ideas further. The request for the newspaper to publicise the issue gives the letter an appropriate closing purpose. To strengthen the response, develop the location and the effects of the litter a little more, while keeping the focus on the problem and practical solutions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The information follows a clear sequence: purpose, enjoyment of the walks, the litter problem, proposed action, and a closing request. Separate paragraphs help the reader follow these stages, and the contrast introduced by “But now” clearly shifts from the pleasant setting to the problem. However, cohesion becomes repetitive in the solutions paragraph, where “And also” is used twice, and several ideas are joined with “and” rather than varied linking. The list of litter is understandable, but the transition from the path to rubbish near trees and the lake could be smoother. Use a wider range of natural connectors, such as “In addition” or “To address this,” and link each proposed measure to the problem it would help solve.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the topic, with relevant items such as “countryside,” “walking path,” “plastic bottles,” “rubbish bins,” and “litter.” The description is clear, but much of the wording is basic or repeated: “nice,” “dirty,” “problem,” and “do something” offer limited precision. Some choices are also awkward or imprecise, particularly “animal poop” in a letter to a newspaper; “animal waste” would be more suitable in tone. “Food bags” could be made more specific as “food packaging.” Build a broader set of topic-related expressions and choose formal, precise wording so the letter sounds more polished while remaining easy to understand.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The letter is generally easy to understand and includes a mix of simple sentences and a few more developed structures, such as “because it is quite calm and relaxing” and “so more people will know.” Some sentence forms are controlled, including “I usually walk in the park near my house called rizal park.” However, the range is mostly simple, and some punctuation and sentence-boundary choices need attention. “But now seeing trash pile up…” is an incomplete construction; write “However, seeing trash pile up…” or “However, I now see trash piling up…”. The sentence beginning “And some people…” is better joined to the preceding point, and the suggestions could be combined into a more varied sentence structure. These improvements would increase grammatical range and control.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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