Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-12

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

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter to complain about an article you published in an international travel magazine. I have read the article and realized that there are some information you shared that is quite incorrect.

I have read in your article which you clearly stated that our town is unsafe due to high volume of crimes. I believe this is not true because our government official are doing their best to assign police officers in every barangay. As a journalist like you I want to emphasize that correct information should be desseminated and should be verified to avoid confusions and false news.

I would highly suggest that your magazine will correct these allegations as it greatly affected our tourism. I do hope that next time before you publish your work you must do all the necessary verification and research.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Hannah Rosemarie L. Alicaya

Complainant

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The letter addresses all three requirements: it identifies the inaccurate claim that the town is unsafe because of crime, explains that this could harm tourism and stresses the need for verified information, and asks the magazine to correct the allegations and research more carefully in future. The complaint is clear and relevant. However, some points are less fully developed than others: the correction relies mainly on the general statement that officials assign police officers in every barangay, without offering specific evidence or a clearer account of the town’s actual safety. The importance of accuracy is also stated broadly rather than explained in detail. The formal opening and closing suit the purpose; adding concrete facts and a more specific remedy would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: it introduces the complaint, presents the disputed claim and the importance of accuracy, then requests corrective action before closing politely. Paragraphing helps distinguish these stages, and links such as “because,” “as,” and “I do hope” make the relationships between ideas understandable. The progression is generally logical, though some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “I have read in your article which you clearly stated” is an awkward transition into the correction, and the request to correct the allegations is followed by a separate, somewhat repetitive instruction to verify future work. A more direct sequence—state the error, give supporting facts, explain the consequences, and specify the remedy—would make cohesion more flexible and precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for a formal complaint, with relevant expressions such as “published,” “verified,” “false news,” and “affected our tourism.” The writer also attempts more formal wording, including “emphasize” and “allegations,” although some choices are inaccurate or unnatural in context. “Government official” does not clearly express the intended plural, while “assign police officers in every barangay” and “correct these allegations” are not the most natural collocations for describing local policing and correcting an article. There are also spelling errors in “desseminated” and “confusions.” These do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, but more precise collocations and careful proofreading would improve control and formality.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The letter uses a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including the reason clause in “I believe this is not true because…” and the conditional time reference in “before you publish your work.” Most sentences communicate the intended meaning, but some grammatical errors remain. In “there are some information,” the uncountable noun requires a different determiner; “our government official are” has a subject–verb agreement problem; and “I have read in your article which you clearly stated” is not a well-formed clause structure. The sentence beginning “I would highly suggest that your magazine will correct” also has an unsuitable verb pattern after “suggest.” Improving agreement, clause construction, and verb patterns while retaining varied sentence structures would strengthen accuracy.

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