Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-22

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 hope this letter finds you well. I am writing in response to your article stating that all town centres in my country are indistinguishable. However, I partly agree with this statement as it is true that they are similare in terms of offering basic amenities and facilities to residents but there are some shopping centers which are skyscraper buildings and eco concious buildings.

In my city, one of the shopping centres has environment friendly design as its rooftop is made of the environmentally friendly materials. Also, there is one shopping center which is built in one of the oldest historical building of the town offers traditional and cultural items to customers and has a bit of modern style.

I would like to request you to do a guided tour of my city in which you can explore the different historical outlets and buildings in my town. Morever, we can also do a research on their development and techniques used to made and preserve them.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours faithfully,

Jasmeen

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three points: you partly agree that centres share basic amenities, describe distinctive features in your city, and invite the writer on a guided tour. Your position is clear in “I partly agree,” and the examples of an environmentally designed centre and a historic building selling traditional items are relevant. This meets the task well, though some points are less fully developed: the claim about skyscraper and eco-conscious buildings is not clearly connected to a specific local example, and the differences could be explained with more detail about what makes them unusual compared with other towns. The tour offer is present, but could sound more direct and personal. Extending these examples and clarifying the comparison would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall sequence: response to the article, examples from your city, an invitation, and a polite closing. Paragraphing helps distinguish these functions, and linking expressions such as “However,” “Also,” and “Morever” guide the reader through the points. The progression is generally understandable, although some connections are not fully smooth. For example, the opening moves from shared amenities to skyscrapers and eco-conscious buildings without clearly showing how these support the contrast. The second example also contains several ideas in one sentence, making the relationship between the historic building, its products, and its modern style less clear. Use more precise links between each claim and example, and divide complex information into clearer sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for the letter, including topic-specific expressions such as “basic amenities,” “environmentally friendly design,” “traditional and cultural items,” and “guided tour.” These help communicate the main ideas and show an attempt to use less common vocabulary. However, some word choices and spelling reduce precision: “similare” and “Morever” are misspelled, while “eco concious buildings” is not expressed accurately. “Historical outlets” is also an unclear description of the places you want to show the writer. Aim for accurate spelling and more natural collocations, such as describing historic shops or heritage sites. More precise vocabulary would make the local differences easier to picture without changing the generally clear meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the contrast introduced by “However” and the relative clause in “which is built in one of the oldest historical building.” The main message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors occur. In the opening, “as it is true that” creates an awkward sentence structure, and the clause about the shopping centre and its traditional items lacks a clear grammatical connection. There are also issues with articles and number, as in “one of the oldest historical building,” and with the infinitive construction “techniques used to made and preserve them.” Review clause boundaries, plural forms after “one of the,” and verb patterns such as “used to make.” Greater control of these forms would improve accuracy.

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

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