Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-16

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 or Madam,

I am writing a complain about the clothing that i recently puchsed online from your company. Well it was very bad experience forme to bought a cloth from your website. i am a regular customer to you but recently i was very upset to your product.

Although, I bought a beautiful blue short kurti to wear in festival with white pajamas. it has very classic design on it. Most vital thing that these kurti is hand made thats why i like it too much. but when i opene the package it was not a blue in colour as well as it was a long kurti. and i ordered the short kurti. I was very disppointed toward you to saw these kurti. In addition, your compny sent me the M size instead of S.

These are plenty of reason that i want to change these dress with the correct colour and the size. And it is very emergency for me because i'll have a celebration party with my family so i have to wear these kurti in these function. So i kindly request to you that please exchange my kurty as soon as possible.

Your failthfully,

Swati Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all the required bullet points from the prompt. The writer gives clear details of the purchase, such as buying a blue short kurti online, describes the problems encountered including the wrong color, wrong size (M instead of S), and incorrect length, and explains why a replacement is needed urgently for an upcoming family celebration party. The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint letter. However, the development of ideas is slightly constrained by vocabulary limitations and repetitive phrasing. Nevertheless, all functional requirements of the task are met, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor for addressing all parts of the task with relevant ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter has a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical structure starting with the purpose of the letter, detailing the issues, and concluding with a request for action. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, the specific issues, and the concluding request. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, phrases like 'Most vital thing that these kurti is hand made' and 'These are plenty of reason' create a choppy flow and show weaknesses in referencing. Transitional markers are basic, and overall cohesion lacks flexibility, placing this performance solidly at Band 5.5 to 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with specific terms related to clothing such as 'kurti', 'pajamas', 'colour', and 'size'. However, there are frequent errors in word choice, morphology, and spelling throughout the response, such as 'puchsed' instead of purchased, 'forme' instead of for me, 'bought' instead of buy, 'opene' instead of opened, 'disppointed toward you to saw these' instead of disappointed to see this, and 'compny' instead of company. These errors do not completely impede communication because the context is clear, but the range is limited and noticeable errors restrict the score to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'Although, I bought a beautiful blue short kurti to wear in festival with white pajamas' and 'And it is very emergency for me because i'll have a celebration party'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding verb tenses, articles, and prepositional usage ('I am writing a complain', 'to bought a cloth', 'was not a blue in colour', 'want to change these dress'). Punctuation and capitalization are also inconsistent at the start of sentences. While communication is not severely hindered, the high density of basic structural errors aligns with a Band 5.0 descriptor.

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

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