Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-20

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 5.5)

Dear Sir,

I am writing this letter to complain regarding a recent online purchased of a dress from your website is disappointing me, not only the quality of material but also the color and design totally different from what I expected.

First of all, I ordered product on 15 august there is pink cotton suit for summer related outfit that have white pink combination of flower which is very costly as I liked pictures and review that why I ordered, but after a week I received this product with black and white color and dress look worn and washed material also quality is very cheap. Actually I order for my holiday trip but this cause significant inconvenience to me.

Secondly, I need full refund or if you can immediately take action for this serious issue happen with me and give me replacement of my order as soon as possible. Everything related to my order details I already attached pay slip and all product details. So, check tge information and give me response early. As I want product for my holiday and I do not want to fail my trip according as I planned.

Please, I request you to replacement this product as soon as possible

Yours sincerely,

Siddikabanu Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter covers all three bullet points required by the prompt: purchase details, the nature of the problem, and the urgency of the replacement. The tone is generally appropriate for a formal complaint, although the expression of ideas is sometimes hindered by grammatical errors. The purpose of the letter is clear from the outset, and the student provides sufficient detail regarding the discrepancy between the ordered item and the received product. To reach a higher band, the student should ensure that the explanation of the 'urgency' is more clearly linked to the specific timeframe of the holiday trip, rather than repeating the request for a replacement multiple times.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the narrative. There is a clear attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'First of all', 'Secondly', and 'Actually'. However, the flow is occasionally interrupted by awkward phrasing and run-on sentences, such as the opening sentence which lacks a clear main verb structure. The use of referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly when referring back to the product details. Improving the transition between sentences and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear, singular focus would enhance the overall coherence of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate the nature of the complaint effectively. There are some attempts at more specific vocabulary, such as 'significant inconvenience' and 'replacement'. However, there are several instances of word-choice errors and awkward collocations, such as 'online purchased of a dress' instead of 'online purchase of a dress' and 'dress look worn and washed material'. The spelling of 'tge' is a minor slip. To improve, the student should focus on using more precise nouns and adjectives to describe the quality of the clothing and the nature of the error.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Issues include incorrect verb tenses ('I order for my holiday'), missing articles, and subject-verb agreement problems ('this cause significant inconvenience'). Some sentences are fragmented or run-on, which makes them difficult to parse. While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar structures prevents the response from reaching a higher band. Focusing on sentence boundaries and consistent tense usage would significantly improve the clarity and accuracy of the writing.

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

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