Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-22

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 Ahmad,

I hope you are fine and doing well. I am writing in response to your letter asking for my suggestion, wether to find a job or go to a college.

I think u should get a job, because u cannot enjoy going to college in this era where skills have more value than degrees. Secondly, there will be an age-gap with your colleagues so you will not enjoy going to college, as you have wasted four years already.

Getting a job will be good for you, because you are the elder son of your family and you have the responsibility to fulfill their needs. Inflation rate is also very high in our country, that's why searching and joining a job should be your top priority while continuing your educational career alongside through private exams and courses.

I think dental assistant job will be easy for you, as you have done diploma in it and also have a little bit of experience and these jobs are easy to find.

I hope that you will find the job soon .

Yours sincerely,

Asad

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three requested points and make your recommendation clear: “I think u should get a job.” You give relevant reasons, including the value of practical skills, family responsibilities and inflation, and suggest a dental assistant role that connects to your friend’s diploma and experience. This covers the task well. However, the explanation of why college would not be enjoyable relies mainly on the age gap and the claim that four years have been wasted; these points could be explained more sensitively and specifically. The job advice is more developed than the suitability of other possible roles. To strengthen the letter further, explain how the suggested work matches your friend’s interests or strengths and develop the college concern with a concrete example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall progression: an opening, reasons against college, reasons to work, a job suggestion and a closing. Paragraphing helps the reader follow the three main parts of the task, and links such as “Secondly,” “because” and “also” make relationships between ideas understandable. This is a coherent arrangement. Some connections feel mechanical, however, and the long sentence beginning “Inflation rate is also very high” combines the financial reason with advice about continuing education without a clear transition. The shift from the college discussion to the job recommendation could also be smoother. Use a wider range of natural transitions and divide or reshape the longer sentence so each paragraph develops one main point.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

Your vocabulary is adequate for the topic and includes relevant expressions such as “age-gap,” “responsibility,” “Inflation rate” and “private exams and courses.” The reader can understand your advice throughout, and “dental assistant” is a suitably specific job title. Some choices are informal or imprecise for a personal letter, including “u,” “in this era,” “a little bit of experience” and “these jobs are easy to find.” There are also spelling and word-choice slips, notably “wether” and “suggestion” where “whether” and “advice” would fit. These do not prevent communication, but they limit precision and naturalness. Choose conventional spelling and more exact phrases to make the letter sound fluent and appropriately personal.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses with “because,” “as” and “while.” Most ideas remain clear, and the sentence about continuing education alongside work shows an attempt to express a more complex relationship. Some grammatical and punctuation errors remain. For example, “asking for my suggestion, wether to find a job or go to a college” needs a clearer construction, such as “asking for my advice on whether to find a job or go to college.” In “the elder son of your family,” the article and phrasing are awkward, while “that's why” after a comma creates a run-on connection. Review articles, sentence boundaries and punctuation, while continuing to use varied sentence structures.

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.