Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-18
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 4.5)
Dear Madam!I hope you will fine. Actually I bought your recently launched Zara Outfit that for my my friend birthday part. But Today she tell me that the theme for birthday dress is blue So i want to change color from red to blue. According to ur changing policy please cooperate with me and change my dress. Hope so ur company will satisy your coustmer. Thanks for your kind cooperation
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 4.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0
The response attempts to cover the three bullet points of the task by mentioning the purchase of a Zara outfit, the reason for needing a change, and a brief call to action regarding the company's policy. However, the task achievement is significantly undermined by the severe length penalty, as the response contains only 70 words, failing to reach the 150-word minimum. Furthermore, the details of the purchase are extremely sparse—lacking order numbers, dates, or specific item descriptions—and the explanation regarding the urgent need for a replacement is underdeveloped. While the tone attempts to be communicative, the lack of adequate development for the bullet points places this performance at the lower end of the scale.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.5
The letter lacks proper paragraphing, presented instead as a single block of text with abrupt transitions. Cohesive devices are minimal and basic, relying heavily on simple conjunctions like 'and' and 'so'. The logical progression of ideas is disjointed, jumping abruptly from the purchase to the friend's birthday theme and immediately demanding a colour change without a smooth transition. While the opening salutation is attempted, the overall organizational structure fails to meet the standards of a coherent formal or semi-formal letter. Referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly with pronouns like 'that' and 'she'.
Lexical Resource — Band 4.5
The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, restricted to everyday words such as 'bought', 'dress', 'color', and 'friend'. There are several noticeable lexical and spelling errors, including 'fine' instead of 'well', 'part' instead of 'party', 'tell' instead of 'told', 'ur' instead of 'your', and 'coustmer' instead of 'customer'. The attempt to use less common vocabulary is absent, and the inaccurate word choices occasionally cause confusion for the reader, reflecting a limited lexical resource appropriate for this level.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0
The text displays a very limited range of grammatical structures, consisting almost entirely of simple sentences and basic compound clauses. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the response, such as 'I hope you will fine' (modal verb misuse), 'that for my my friend birthday part' (missing copula and possessive errors), and 'Today she tell me' (tense inconsistency). Punctuation is also poorly handled, with missing apostrophes and run-on structures. These persistent errors and the lack of complex structures heavily restrict the grammatical band score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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