Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-17

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The system used for rubbish/garbage collection in your local area is not working properly. This is causing problems for you and your neighbours. Write a letter to the local council. In your letter

• describe how the rubbish collection system is not working properly
• explain how this is affecting you and your neighbours
• suggest what should be done about the problem

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.0)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing this letter complainting about improper collection of rubbish in my local area. Every thursday is a garbage collection day but from last couple of months they missed weekly collection.Last week no one came to pickup the garbage boxes.

As weekly collection is missed it caused bad smell in neighbourhood area. People left full of rubbish boxes on the road as collection is not done last week they putt everyday rubbish in it cause some of things outside the box as they are not empty. Even some of garbage boxes are fully opened that cause unpleasant smell when passing near by it.

It is advisible that weekly collection should be done properly. Companies should hire more workers in garbage collection as everytime we called for missed collection they always gave excuse of short staffed. Also council need to take intiative to teach people how they cover their rubbish boxes properly that would not cause bad smell.

I hope this suggestion would be helpful for you.I am waiting for your prompt response.

Yours faithfully,

Kirandeep Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You address all three requested points: you describe missed Thursday collections, explain the resulting smell and rubbish overflowing onto the road, and recommend more collection staff and better guidance on covering bins. The purpose is clear from the opening complaint, and the closing maintains an appropriate formal tone. The examples about neighbours leaving rubbish beside full bins help support the impact rather than merely asserting that there is a problem. To strengthen the response further, make the requested action more specific—for example, ask the council to arrange an immediate collection and monitor the service—rather than relying mainly on general suggestions. Overall, the letter fulfils the task and develops its main ideas clearly, though some recommendations could be extended.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall progression: the collection failure is introduced first, its effects are described next, and proposed solutions and a closing follow. Paragraphing helps the reader distinguish these stages, and links such as “As” and “Also” show how ideas relate. This meets the lower-band expectation of a coherent arrangement and shows some movement towards more flexible organisation. However, several sentences run together or are joined awkwardly, particularly the description beginning “People left full of rubbish boxes on the road,” which makes the sequence of events harder to follow. Add clearer sentence boundaries and use references such as “this problem” or “these missed collections” to connect ideas without repeating the same wording.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the complaint, including “garbage collection,” “neighbourhood,” “short staffed,” and “unpleasant smell.” The reader can understand the central problem, but the range is limited and several noticeable word-choice, spelling, or collocation errors reduce precision. Examples include “complainting,” “pickup,” “putt everyday rubbish,” and “advisible”; “garbage boxes” is also less natural than “bins” or “rubbish bins.” Some phrases, such as “bad smell,” are repeated rather than varied. Build a small set of accurate formal expressions for reporting missed collections and their effects, and check spelling and word forms carefully. This would make the letter more natural and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more developed sentence forms, including a reason clause beginning “As weekly collection is missed” and a recommendation introduced by “It is…” The main message remains understandable, but errors occur frequently and sometimes make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. For example, “Every thursday is a garbage collection day but from last couple of months they missed weekly collection” has problems with tense, articles, and sentence punctuation. In “that cause unpleasant smell,” the verb does not agree with its subject, and the final sentence needs a space after the full stop. Practise accurate past and present-perfect forms, articles, and agreement, and divide long sentences into shorter units before attempting more complex 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.