Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-07-26

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have bought some clothing online and are not satisfied with your purchase.

Write a letter to the company that you bought the clothing from. In your email:

• give details of the purchase
• describe the problem
• explain why you need a replacement urgently

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Madam,

Recently, I had purchased few clothes from your website and quality of it is very poor also the colour of the dress is different than what I ordered.

One my friend suggested me to explore your collection so I checked your ethnic dress section as I wanted a light pitch colour dress for my college farwell party. I did found that on your site and placed an order on 15th July 2026.

As per terms and condition mentioned on your portal, the order supposed to dispatched within 7 days but I received after 10 days. Secondly, the reason I bought it was the colour which I was looking from long time and I saw that in your collection. However, the product I was received was in pink colour which was not what I odered.

I am requeting for the replacement at the earliest as I have the function on 1st Aug 2026. Additionally I paid the entire amount for the dress which I liked so I want to you to intiate the replacement from my place. The experience was not good, moreover the service was also delayed.

I am looking for the positive reponse from your end on an immediate basis. I believe a customer should be satisfied after paying handsome amount from the product, looking forward to it.

__

Yours faithfully,

Nency Shah

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have addressed all three bullet points of the task: providing purchase details, describing the problem, and explaining the urgency. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter of complaint. However, the development of ideas is slightly uneven. While you mention the order date and the specific issue with the colour, the explanation of the urgency could be more effectively linked to the specific consequences of not having the dress. To improve, ensure that the connection between the delay and your specific needs is more clearly articulated to strengthen your request for a replacement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each serving a specific purpose. You use some cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Additionally', and 'Moreover' to link your ideas. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, and there are instances where the flow between sentences could be smoother. For example, the transition between the order details and the problem description could be more fluid. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear, and the paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different sections of your complaint.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your message clearly, such as 'dispatched', 'portal', and 'initiate'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and minor errors, such as 'light pitch colour' (likely meaning 'peach'), 'I did found', and 'handsome amount'. These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of your writing. To reach a higher band, focus on using more natural collocations and ensuring that your word choices are accurate in a formal context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, including article usage ('the quality of it', 'the colour'), verb tense consistency ('I had purchased', 'I did found'), and subject-verb agreement ('order supposed to dispatched'). While these errors are frequent, they rarely cause confusion or impede the reader's understanding of your complaint. To improve, pay closer attention to basic sentence construction and proofread for common errors like missing auxiliary verbs or incorrect preposition usage.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.