Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-06

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 Gable,

I hope you are doing well. I have received your letter asking for an advice about whether to get a job or go to college. After thinking about it for quite a while, I want to suggest that you should go for a job.

In my experience, college is not exciting anymore as we previously discussed when we met. I also think that going to a college does not align with your goals because you prefer learning things practically rather theoratically. Unfortunately, our educational system is more inclined towards theorical learning so I am not sure you would enjoy it as much.

Comparatively, securing a job would be ideal for you because it would help you learn while you work; hence more practical knowledge. I would advice you to go for an internship first for quick hands-on experience. Later on, you can explore potential earning opportunities which will help you manage your finances rather easily.

In my opinion, you should look for work that aligns with your personal interests so you are able to enjoy it. As far as I remember you have keen interest in visual arts and health & fitness, I would suggest that you look for opportunities in these two fields. Also, I am always here if you need any help. I am sure you have a great career ahead because I have always known you to be passionate and hard-working.

I wish you all the best for this job search and I am eagerly waiting for progress updates so write to be as soon as you can.

Yours faithfully,

Jabbori

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt, maintaining a clear and consistent personal tone throughout. You provide distinct reasons why your friend would not enjoy college, such as the mismatch with their practical learning style. You also explain why getting a job is beneficial by highlighting immediate practical experience and financial management, and you suggest suitable industries like visual arts and health and fitness. All bullet points are well-covered with relevant ideas, though some areas, such as the specific drawbacks of college, show a slight tendency to over-generalise rather than fully exploring deeper consequences. To reach a higher level, you could have extended and fully developed each idea with more specific narrative detail or examples about how a job would shape their immediate future.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

Your letter demonstrates a clear logical organisation and progression from the opening salutation to the closing sign-off. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, starting with the main recommendation, moving to college versus work, exploring specific fields, and concluding with encouraging remarks. You use cohesive devices reasonably well, such as 'Comparatively', 'Later on', and 'In my opinion', which help guide the reader smoothly through your arguments. However, referencing and cohesive links are at times slightly formulaic or mechanical rather than entirely flexible. To move to the next level, you could integrate a more sophisticated variety of cohesive features and ensure that transitions between paragraphs feel completely natural and seamless.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and subject-specific terminology such as 'practical knowledge', 'hands-on experience', and 'visual arts'. Your tone is appropriate for an informal letter to a friend. However, there are a few noticeable lexical inaccuracies, most notably the countable/uncountable error with 'an advice' instead of 'advice', and slight spelling or word choice slips such as writing 'therotically' instead of 'theoretically' and using 'write to be' instead of 'write to me'. These errors do not impede communication, but they reflect a typical profile where vocabulary control is sufficient yet occasionally imprecise. To achieve a higher score, you should focus on accurate word formation and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response features a satisfactory mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating a reasonable command of grammar and punctuation. You successfully incorporate conditional structures and multi-clause sentences, such as 'In my opinion, you should look for work that aligns with your personal interests so you are able to enjoy it.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, for instance, a missing preposition or awkward phrasing in clauses like 'write to be as soon as you can' instead of 'write to me', and occasional slight punctuation lapses. Nevertheless, these errors rarely impede communication and there are plenty of error-free sentences. To reach the next level, you would need to display a wider variety of complex structures with consistently high accuracy across all sentence types.

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

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