Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-06

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 6.0)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing regarding an article I recently read in your national newspaper, which claimed that town centres across the United Kingdom look very similar.I do not believe that all town centres are similar.

There are the points which I agree with some rural areas town centres look similar. In United Kingdown if a person needs any item or to do shopping they all are in one single lane which is so popular and busy lane. For example, Preston and Blackpool area people are only have one lane but where I live in Ilford which is have atleast 2 shooping streets.

In my area town centre have so much differentiate than other town centres. The area town centre have a shopping mall and two lanes. In one lane we can find western country items like clothing, shoes, banks and pupils activities such as giant wheel, selling toys. In other lane you can find the food market, a cinema, a resturant and council centre. which is very rare to see in other town centres. This variety makes the town centre quite different from many smaller towns.

I therefore feel that the article may have generalised town centres too broadly. If the writer is interested, I would be very happy to give them a guided tour of Ilford so that they can see these differences for themselves.

Looking forwardv to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Damaraka Polisetty.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all bullet points required by the prompt, achieving a solid standard. You clearly state which points you agree with regarding rural town centres, explain the specific ways your town centre in Ilford differs by describing its shopping mall, two lanes, diverse shops, and entertainment facilities, and offer a guided tour to the writer at the end. Your position is generally clear throughout the letter. However, some ideas are a bit underdeveloped, such as your explanation of the points you agree with in the second paragraph, which remains somewhat vague and repetitive. To reach the highest bands, you would need to expand more fully and fluidly on your initial points of agreement and maintain a fully developed line of reasoning across all sections of the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

Your letter shows a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, dedicating each section to a specific part of the prompt, such as agreeing with the article, detailing your town's features, and making the final offer. Information flows logically from the introduction into body paragraphs and a polite sign-off. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases like 'There are the points which I agree with' feel unnatural, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'which is very rare to see in other town centres' starting with a relative pronoun rather than connecting smoothly to the preceding clause. To improve further, you should use a wider variety of cohesive devices more flexibly and ensure that sentences link together without awkward pauses or abrupt punctuation breaks.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully communicating your ideas about town centres, shopping streets, and local amenities using terms like 'national newspaper', 'shopping mall', and 'council centre'. You also attempt some less common vocabulary, such as 'generalised' and 'variety'. However, there are noticeable lexical resource limitations and errors, including spelling mistakes like 'shooping', 'United Kingdown', 'resturant', and 'looking forwardv', as well as awkward word choices and collocations like 'pupils activities' instead of children's activities, and saying your area 'have so much differentiate' instead of 'is very different'. These errors and spelling slips sometimes cause slight hesitation for the reader, keeping this criterion at a moderate level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The letter demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures and relative clauses used in your final paragraph. You show an ability to construct compound sentences to convey your message. Nevertheless, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text. These include subject-verb agreement issues, such as 'where I live in Ilford which is have' and 'The area town centre have', missing articles like 'in one lane we can find western country items', and incorrect prepositions or fragment sentences like starting a sentence with 'For example, Preston and Blackpool area people are only have one lane'. While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they persist often enough to prevent the grammar score from rising into the higher bands.

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

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