Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-18

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have just read an article in a national newspaper which claims that town centres in your country all look very similar to each other. You don't fully agree with this opinion.

Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper. In your letter

• say which points in the article you agree with
• explain ways in which your town centre is different from most other town centres
• offer to give a guided tour of your town to the writer of the article

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Sir,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to express my view about a recent article in your news paper. The article claims that all town centre in our country look familiar.

I personally do not fully agree with this statement. Perhaps most of the town centre are similar to each other in many aspects such as Layout design, shops decoration and overall infrastructure. However, I believe my city's town centre is not ordinary as other other cities' town centre. There are many thing that are unique in our city centre such as an underground Gym, spacious shops and open food courts for customers. Moreover, the location of police station is within 1 kilometre of city centre. Therefore, criminal activities are very rarer in city centre.

Please allow me to give you a tour of my town. I hope after visiting my town your view about country's all city centre are same will be changed. you can contact me on my phone number[redacted phone]) and we can schedule a tour of city.

Best Regards,

Maninderpal Singh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task. You clearly state your position regarding the newspaper article, provide specific examples of how your town centre differs (e.g., underground gym, food courts), and include the invitation for a guided tour. The tone is appropriate for a letter to an editor. To reach a higher band, ensure that your arguments are more fully developed; for instance, explaining why the underground gym or the specific layout makes the town centre unique would add more depth to your response. Overall, the task is fulfilled effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organised with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Moreover', and 'Therefore' to link your ideas. While the paragraphing is functional, the flow between sentences could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words and ensuring that referencing is more precise. For example, the transition between the description of the town and the invitation could be smoother. The overall progression of ideas is clear, and the letter follows a standard formal structure.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'infrastructure', 'unique', and 'criminal activities'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'look familiar' instead of 'look similar' and 'shops decoration' instead of 'shop decor'. Additionally, there are minor errors in pluralisation, such as 'town centre' instead of 'town centres'. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and ensuring consistent subject-verb agreement with plural nouns. The vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, but lacks the flexibility and precision required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While your meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, particularly regarding articles ('the location of police station') and pluralisation ('all town centre', 'many thing'). There are also some minor punctuation and phrasing issues, such as 'country's all city centre are same'. These errors do not impede communication, but they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, pay closer attention to subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles, and try to incorporate more varied complex sentence structures with greater accuracy.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.