Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-13

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have just read an article in an international travel magazine which contained some information about your town that is incorrect.

Write a letter to the editor of the magazine. In your letter

• correct the information in the article
• explain why it is important for the magazine to give correct information
• suggest what the magazine should do about this situation

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear sir/madam,

I intend to write this letter with reference to an article about my town that was published last week, in your your reputed international travel magazine. upon going through the article, I was very disappointed to find some information which was totally untrue.

Being a residence of the town, the claim addressing the issue of Mohali being overly polluted locality is incorrect. Though in today's era people tend to use their own conveyance rather than public transport, nevertheless the police department keeps a clear and regulated check on the pollution limit. apart from this, the locals are very concerned about their surroundings and pays utmost attention to not throw litter or unwanted garbage around, which also leads to fine and penalities.

Such information, especially by such an esteemed magazine which is read all over the country, cause huge misconseption regarding the town, the locals's social responsibility and standard of the place. i would sincerely request you to publish an public appolgy as well as get the article down from your paper magzine as well as the official website.

I hope you will look into this matter carefully.

SYOURS FAITHFULLY

SIMAR

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all three bullet points required by the prompt effectively. The student successfully corrects the misinformation by refuting the claim about Mohali being overly polluted, explains why accuracy matters for a prestigious magazine by highlighting the potential damage to the town's reputation, and suggests appropriate actions (publishing an apology and removing the article). The tone is appropriately formal for a letter to an editor. However, the development of ideas is slightly straightforward and could be extended further to reach a higher band. Overall, the requirements of the task are well-satisfied, aligning with the criteria for Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organised with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the main points: the purpose of the letter, the correction of the misinformation, and the suggested actions. Cohesive devices are employed with reasonable flexibility, such as 'nevertheless', 'apart from this', and 'which also leads to'. While referencing is generally clear, there are minor mechanical errors in cohesion and formatting, such as the lowercase letter in 'i' and formatting issues at the sign-off ('SYOURS FAITHFULLY'), which prevent it from reaching a higher band. Overall progression is clear, supporting a Band 7 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey their message with some precision and appropriate style, using terms such as 'reputed international travel magazine', 'conveyance', 'utmost attention', and 'esteemed magazine'. Less common lexical items are attempted, showing some awareness of collocation, although there are noticeable word-choice and spelling errors that detract from precision, such as 'residence' instead of 'resident', 'misconseption', 'appolgy', and 'magzine'. These errors do not impede communication, placing the response solidly in the Band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses introduced by 'Though', 'which', and 'especially by'. There are several grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, such as the lowercase 'i' in 'i would sincerely request', subject-verb agreement issues ('the locals... pays' instead of 'pay'), and a comma splice in the third paragraph ('magazine, cause'). Despite these errors, they rarely impede overall communication, and the sentence structures attempted show adequate control, fitting the Band 6 descriptor.

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

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