Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-29

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You work for an international company, and would like to spend six months working in its head office in another country. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter

• explain why you want to work in the company's head office for six months
• say how your work could be done while you are away
• ask for his/her help in arranging it

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

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

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Mr. Patel,

I am writing to request as I look forward to work from company’s head office in Mumbai, India. I am planning to help my ageing parents starting from the November 2026 untill April 2027. My family is based in Mumbai, which minimize the commute time as well as helps to spend more time with my family and friends. I have been living in Canada for the last five years, it has been such a long time without meeting my loved ones.

Firstly, my colleague Mr. Gandhi, will takeover my responsibilities. I will continue monitoring our teams progress on various projects. As a senior research analyst, I would be able to help him at any moment via phone or video call. A group chat has been created by me on the Slack application, which will help us to share updates.

Secondly, I would request you to provide a reference letter, which I have to share with the director of research, Mr. Joshi in India. I would therfore request you to accept my transfer request and arrange a meeting with the human resource manager, Mr. Naik, for the smooth transition. Should you require more details or information, I have enclosed an excel file with our current projects and would be happy to assist further.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Raj Sharma.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You successfully covered all three bullet points required in the prompt. You clearly explained why you want to work in the Mumbai head office, specifically mentioning your desire to help your ageing parents and reconnect with family after five years in Canada. You addressed how your work would be covered by explaining that your colleague Mr. Gandhi will take over daily responsibilities while you monitor progress, staying connected via phone, video call, and Slack. Finally, you successfully asked for his help by requesting a reference letter for the research director and asking him to arrange a meeting with HR. The tone is appropriately formal and polite for a business letter to a manager. All parts are well-developed and clear.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

Your letter has a clear and logical overall organization, moving smoothly from the purpose of the letter and your personal motivation, to the operational coverage of your work, and finally to your specific requests. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate each distinct point. You utilize cohesive devices such as 'Firstly,' 'Secondly,' and 'Should you require' to structure your argument. However, referencing and transitions are occasionally slightly mechanical, and sentences like 'I am writing to request as I look forward to work from...' disrupt the natural flow. Nevertheless, the progression of ideas remains easy to follow throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a workplace context, including terms like 'senior research analyst', 'responsibilities', 'transition', and 'reference letter'. You also attempt some less common vocabulary such as 'ageing parents', 'minimize the commute time', and 'current projects'. However, there are some noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'look forward to work from company's head office' (should be 'working') and 'which minimize' (verb agreement error). Spelling and word forms are mostly accurate, and communication is never impeded, placing your lexical performance comfortably at Band 6.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using relative clauses ('which will help us') and conditional structures ('Should you require more details'). There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings throughout the text, such as 'I am writing to request as I look forward to work' (incorrect verb complementation), 'starting from the November 2026 untill April 2027' (unnecessary article and spelling error), and 'which minimize' (tense/agreement error). Although these errors occur, many sentences are error-free, and your meaning remains completely clear to the reader, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptors.

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