Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to inform you about my recent online clothing purchase in your company.

I greatly appreciate your previous services and trust worthy clothing brand experience. Based on my previous best purchases, I have recently bought wedding suite online from your official website for one my friend's marriage.

Initially it was looking sharp and It gave me the high quality clothing experience, after I used it once, the fabric was completely changed in appearance and it looks very odd to me. I do not know exactly the reason behind it but I was not satisfied this online purchase. When I put it in the laundry, the fabrics were shading it's colour and cloth was completely damaged.

I would like to ask you to replace it urgently because I need to wear a best suit for my cousins upcoming marriage. Initially I thought that I can use it for both my friend and cousin's marriage but I could not able to wear it now and I'm requesting you to replace it as soon as possible.

Kind Regards,

Jagadeesh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student has successfully addressed all three bullet points required by the task prompt. Specifically, the letter provides details of the purchase, mentioning that a 'wedding suite' was bought online from the official website. The problem is clearly described, noting that after the first wash, the fabric changed in appearance and 'was shading it's colour'. Furthermore, the need for an urgent replacement is explained due to an upcoming family marriage. The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint letter. The response is fully relevant and develops all required ideas adequately to satisfy the requirements for Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 given the thorough coverage of the prompts.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is generally coherent and follows a logical structure appropriate for a formal complaint, beginning with the purpose of the writing, detailing the issue, and concluding with a request for action. Paragraphing is used to separate different points, such as the purchase details and the description of the defect. However, cohesion is occasionally mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases like 'Initially it was looking sharp and It gave me...' show minor cohesion issues, and referencing is sometimes imprecise, such as 'this online purchase' instead of 'with this online purchase'. Overall paragraphing and logical progression meet the standards for a Band 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts at less common phrasing such as 'high quality clothing experience' and 'official website'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors throughout the response, such as 'purchase in your company' instead of 'from your company', 'wedding suite' instead of 'wedding suit', and 'fabrics were shading it's colour' instead of 'bleeding' or 'fading its colour'. Spelling errors like 'trust worthy' are also present. These errors do not impede communication, placing the response solidly at Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'Based on my previous best purchases, I have recently bought...' and 'I would like to ask you to replace it urgently because...'. There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures, including 'for one my friend's marriage' (missing article and apostrophe placement), 'I could not able to wear it', and the incorrect use of the progressive tense in 'it was looking sharp'. Punctuation and capitalization are occasionally flawed ('It gave me'). Despite these errors, meaning is generally clear, corresponding to a Band 6.

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

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