Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-24

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently received a letter from a friend asking for advice about whether to go to college or to try to get a job. You think he/she should get a job.

Write a letter to this friend. In your letter

• say why he/she would not enjoy going to college
• explain why getting a job is a good idea for him/her
• suggest types of job that would be suitable for him/her

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ................. ,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Aman,

I hope you are doing great. I have received your letter yesterday, and you were aksing my advice about choosing college or job. I believe that you would not enjoy going back to school, because as you know you had a long gap year and it will be very hard for you to catch up on study schedule again.

I would recommend you to choose a job. Hence, you can save money and gain experience. I am fully aware that you are interested towards baking and want to run your own bakery business in future.

You should choose a full time job at any local bakery and restaurent in order to gain experience. I can refer you to my Uncle's shop. It wil not only helps you to save, but also to enhance skills and gain hands-on experience.

Let me know if you need anything else from my side.

Lots of love,

Simi.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response covers all parts of the task effectively and appropriately. You successfully adopt a friendly tone and address the three bullet points required in the prompt. First, you explain why Aman would not enjoy college by mentioning his long gap year and the difficulty of catching up on studies. Second, you provide a clear reason for choosing a job, noting that he can save money and gain experience. Finally, you suggest a suitable type of job by recommending a position at a local bakery or restaurant, even offering a specific referral. Your ideas are relevant and well-developed, and the overall purpose of the letter is achieved smoothly. The response is fully on-topic and maintains a clear position throughout, fulfilling all the requirements of this criterion at a solid level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

Your letter has a clear logical organization and progression throughout. The layout is appropriate for a personal letter, beginning with a warm greeting and ending with a natural sign-off. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct ideas, such as your view on college in the first paragraph, your recommendation for a job in the second, and specific job suggestions in the third. You use cohesive devices and linking words reasonably well, as seen with phrases like 'Hence', 'I am fully aware', and 'It will not only helps you'. However, there are minor cohesion issues, such as the abrupt transition with 'Hence' which is used slightly unnaturally in this context. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear and easy to follow for the reader.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to the topic of work and study, such as 'gap year', 'hands-on experience', and 'bakery business'. There are some word choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'aksing' instead of 'asking', 'restaurent' instead of 'restaurant', and the prepositional error 'interested towards' instead of 'interested in'. Despite these occasional errors, your vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly without impeding communication. To reach a higher band, you should aim to use a wider variety of sophisticated phrasing and ensure correct spelling and collocation in your word choices.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and conditional-like structures effectively, such as 'I believe that you would not enjoy going back to school...' and 'You should choose a full time job at any local bakery and restaurant in order to gain experience.' However, there are several grammatical errors and slips throughout the text. For example, 'I have received your letter yesterday' should use the past simple 'I received your letter yesterday'. Furthermore, there is a tense and agreement error in 'It wil not only helps you', where 'helps' should be the bare infinitive 'help' following the modal 'will'. While these errors are noticeable, they rarely impede overall communication, placing your grammar control firmly in the mid-band range.

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

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