Dear Kakoli, Hope you are doing great. I was away for a meditation course for a week and after my arrival, I got to see the beautiful birthday gift sent by you. Thank you so much. I had a nice vacation at the ‘Art of Living’ meditation centre and enjoyed my birthday amid perfect serenity. Words are few to describe the place. Though located in a populated area like Bangalore, the meditation centre is very calm. my fellow participants; they were full of positive energy. I feel I have rediscovered myself in just those seven days. Believe it or not, I was in total silence for four days. In those four days, I could deeply reflect on my life goal and what I really want to do. Why don’t you join me the next time? I know you are quite fond of meditation and yoga, so let’s plan a trip. Take care and see you soon. Warm wishes, Ushree
Letter to a Friend About an Impressive Place
You recently visited a place that had a strong impact on you. Now you want to write to your friend about the place. Write a letter to a friend about the place. In your letter: - explain where the place was and how you got there - describe what you saw - offer to take your friend there
Annotated response
2 correction notes
Overall assessment
Why this response received Band 6.5
The letter reads warmly and naturally, with an appropriately friendly tone and convincing personal detail about the meditation experience. Its main limitation is incomplete coverage of the prompt, since the journey to the place is not explained and the description of what was seen is thin.
IELTS criteria
How each score was decided
Task Achievement
6.0The letter covers the location, some description, and a genuine invitation, but omits how the writer got there and describes the place only partially through people and atmosphere rather than what was seen.
Coherence and Cohesion
6.5Ideas progress logically through a friendly opening, the visit experience, and the invitation, though paragraphing is not visually marked and some links between sentences are loose.
Lexical Resource
7.0Vocabulary is natural and reasonably varied for an informal letter, with phrases like 'amid perfect serenity' and 'rediscovered myself', though range is somewhat everyday.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
7.0A good mix of simple and complex structures is used with consistent control, including subordinate clauses and questions, with only minor slips.