Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-29

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 this letter in response to an article that you recently published in the newspaper and claims that the all town centres are similar to each other in my country. However, I only partially agree with some points made in the article.

I agree that many town centres are similar because they have same types of shops and supermarkets that offers same goods. In addition to this, there are numerous public parks that offers same facilities such as, children's rides and playground area. As a result people may feel less differences in these parks when they visits.

Conversely, my town centre is very different as compared to others. This is because it offers various types of different resturants like Mexican, Indian, Chinease or Italian along with family bussiness. Apart from this, it also offers a mixture of traditional and modern infrastructure. There is a famous farm where people usually visit to get fresh vegetables.

I would love to give a guided tour of my town to you for the article. I could show you the different attractions which will include the historical sites and modern business that makes my town better then others. Please let me know, if you are interested. I will share you the meeting date once, I recieve the confirmation from your side.

I look forward to your kind response.

Yours faithfully,

Harmanpreet Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response successfully covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions. The writer begins by stating which aspects of the article they agree with, noting similarities in chain shops and public parks. They then clearly explain how their own town centre differs by highlighting diverse restaurants, local family businesses, a mix of architectural styles, and a local farm. Finally, they appropriately offer a guided tour of the town to the newspaper writer, proposing suitable next steps. The tone is polite and appropriate for a letter to the editor. All ideas are relevant and adequately developed, earning a solid Band 7.0 for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter is clearly organised into logical paragraphs, beginning with a standard salutation and ending with an appropriate sign-off. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving from agreement with the article to the counter-examples of the writer's home town, followed by the offer of a tour. Cohesive devices such as 'In addition to this', 'Conversely', and 'Apart from this' are used to connect ideas, though some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive in structure. Paragraphing is handled well, ensuring a clear progression of thought throughout the text. Overall, Coherence and Cohesion comfortably meets the criteria for Band 6.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a general letter. They incorporate some less common and topic-specific vocabulary such as 'infrastructure', 'historical sites', and 'confirmation'. However, there are several spelling errors throughout the text, including 'resturants', 'Chinease', 'bussiness', 'recieve', and plural agreement issues like 'shops and supermarkets that offers'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they prevent the lexical score from reaching higher bands. The vocabulary is generally functional and appropriate for the context, achieving a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, attempting relative clauses and conditional-style offers ('I could show you the different attractions which will include...'). There are, however, a number of grammatical errors and unnecessary articles, such as 'that claims that the all town centres', missing articles in 'as a result people', and punctuation issues with commas before dependent clauses ('Please let me know, if you are interested'). While these errors occur with some frequency, the majority of sentences are understandable and communication is never impeded. This performance aligns well with the Band 6.0 descriptors.

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.