Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 hope everything good with you. I am mailing you this letter regarding of my purchase of my new suit.

I had purchased this suit for my friend wedding but the problem is the is not my my size and it is kind of loose so I would like to replace it and get another size for me. The problem is the pant is long and the shirt fitting is lose and even what color i had expected it is not the same. I had purchase online from Amazon, which I do my shopping from this site but this time i am upset that for the first time the product is not delivered the same which I was expecting.

So please kindly change this product as soon as you can because I have to attended the wedding in two days and not much time left. So as per my request try to change this item and send me another one in one days time thank you for the service.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all bullet points required by the task. The student provides details of the purchase by mentioning buying a suit online from Amazon. The problem is clearly described, noting issues with the size, fit of the shirt and pants, and an unexpected color. Furthermore, the need for an urgent replacement is explained by stating that the wedding is in two days. The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint letter despite some grammatical slip-ups, and the purpose is clear throughout. All requirements are met effectively, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement, though the progression is slightly hindered by a lack of proper paragraph breaks, as the body of the letter is essentially one large block of text. Cohesive devices are basic and sometimes repetitive, such as the repeated use of 'The problem is' and 'So'. Referencing is generally clear, but the logical flow between sentences could be improved with a wider variety of transition words and better paragraphing. This corresponds closely to the Band 5.5 or Band 6 criteria, making a 6.0 a fair and accurate score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday concepts related to online shopping and clothing sizes (e.g., 'purchase', 'suit', 'loose', 'color'). However, there are notable word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'shirt fitting is lose' instead of 'loose', and 'attended' instead of 'attend'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with limited success, and spelling/word-choice inaccuracies occur, though they do not impede overall communication. These features are characteristic of Band 5.0 lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as the relative clause in 'which I do my shopping from this site'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors including missing prepositions ('regarding of'), incorrect verb forms ('I had purchase online'), subject-verb agreement issues ('the pant is long'), and punctuation slips. While these errors do not completely block understanding, they are frequent enough to prevent the writing from achieving a higher band score, fitting solidly within the Band 5 descriptors.

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

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