Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-14

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 or Madam,

I am writing to provide feedback on the article about town centres that was published in this weeks issue of the newspaper.

Firstly, I agree that there are a few similarities between the town centres in our country. For instance, the article rightfully points at how similar style of small scale shopping markets and gated communities are present all across the country.

However, I would like to emphasize that my town, sabza town is unique in terms of its rich history and how it attracts tourtists. The Army Museum and Grand Baksh Mosque, both symbolise the historic culture culture therefore, have been preserved.

It'll be a pleasure for me if you would allow me to provide you a tour around the town, my whole family has been living here and can offer you an in depth guide in terms of knowledge and sightseeing.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Mand

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all three bullet points required by the task prompt. You successfully mention which points in the article you agree with, explaining that similar styles of small-scale shopping markets and gated communities are present nationwide. You then explain how your town centre, Sabza Town, is unique due to its rich history, mentioning specific attractions such as the Army Museum and Grand Baksh Mosque. Finally, you offer to give a guided tour of the town to the writer of the article, demonstrating a clear awareness of the required communicative function. Your ideas are relevant and appropriately developed for a general training letter, maintaining an appropriate semi-formal tone throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter exhibits a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. You begin with an appropriate opening greeting and state your purpose clearly. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate different points, such as your agreement with the article, the unique features of your town, and your offer of a tour. Cohesive devices like 'Firstly', 'However', and 'For instance' are employed to guide the reader through your arguments. However, referencing could be slightly smoother, and some transitions feel a bit mechanical, but the overall structure remains coherent and easy to follow from beginning to end.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'emphasize', 'preserved', and 'sightseeing'. However, there are a few lexical inaccuracies and spelling errors, such as 'weeks' instead of 'week's', 'tourtists' instead of 'tourists', and the repetition of the word 'culture' in the phrase 'historic culture culture'. Despite these occasional slips, your vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly and maintain an appropriate tone suitable for a letter to a newspaper editor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional and relative clauses like 'if you would allow me to provide you a tour around the town'. There are, however, some grammatical and punctuation errors present in the text, such as missing apostrophes in 'weeks issue', a run-on sentence structure in the third paragraph ('...historic culture culture therefore, have been preserved'), and a capitalization error in 'sabza town'. While these errors occasionally distract, they do not impede overall communication, demonstrating a solid foundation in sentence construction.

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

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