Hello Simon, I just got back from Big Sur, where I spent two weeks camping in the mountains. It was an amazing trip and, as you had said you were interested, I thought I’d write and tell you about it. I slept in a tent most of the time, picking a different place each night. I was hiking around Mount Miguel, so that was the general area if you want to check it out on a map. My friend Eric drove me there and then picked me up, and basically I just walked around during the whole two weeks. Big Sur is beautiful. They say it’s where the land and sea couldn’t agree more. It’s so rugged and wild that you can just forget all about cities and towns and the problems of home. I was surrounded by wildlife all the time, including a few bears and a mountain lion. If you want to go check it out soon then I’ll send you my maps and give you more specific advice, but if you want to wait until spring then I’ll happily take you there myself. I’m going to buy a van and drive back in March, and it’d be great if you came along. Best, David
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
1 correction note
Overall assessment
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter fully achieves its communicative purpose, covering all three bullet points with vivid, well-developed detail in a convincingly informal register. The language is flexible and natural throughout, with only rare, non-impeding slips such as the slightly imprecise 'crash together', so there is little that materially limits the response.
IELTS criteria
How each score was decided
Task Achievement
8.5The response covers all three bullet points — location and transport, a developed description of the scenery and wildlife, and a concrete offer to take the friend there in spring — in a consistently appropriate informal tone with plenty of relevant detail.
Coherence and Cohesion
8.0Ideas progress logically from arrival and logistics to scenery to the invitation, with varied cohesive devices and clear paragraphing, though a few transitions are loose, such as the opening digression about why the letter is being written.
Lexical Resource
8.0Vocabulary is natural and flexible for an informal letter, with idiomatic expressions like 'picking a different place each night' and 'forget all about cities and towns', with only occasional imprecision such as 'where the land and sea crash together'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
8.0A wide range of structures is used with strong control, including conditionals, relative clauses, and fluent combinations like 'picking a different place each night', with only very rare errors that do not impede meaning.