Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-04

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 7.0)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this to express my worst experience of an online shopping with your company. I have ordered two pair of shirts for my cousin wedding. I place an order on 28th September 2026, from your online "Men Collection.com" website. My order number is SHRT123.

Although delivery of my purchase is on time, I am not satisfy with colour and material of both items. Not only fabric but also size is completely wrong. I ordered medium(M) size white and navy blue shirts; However, I received small size. Moreover, colours are fade and not comparetively same as shown in the picture.

I bought this pair for wedding ceremony, which is going to start from next week. I was excited to wear it on this important family function. I would appreciate if you will do replacement in upcoming two days. I am attaching my receipt with this mail, please feel free to reach out to me for further information. I hope you will take promt action on this matter.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Yash Patel.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 8.0

You successfully cover all parts of the task well, earning a high score in this category. You provide clear details of the purchase, including the website name ("Men Collection.com"), the order number (SHRT123), and the exact order date. You clearly describe the problem by pointing out the issues with the size, fabric, colour, and material of the shirts. Furthermore, you effectively explain why you need a replacement urgently, mentioning that the family wedding starts next week and you were excited to wear them. While your ideas are well-developed and present a clear purpose throughout, a slightly deeper elaboration on the exact return policy or packaging condition could have pushed the response even further. Overall, your handling of the communicative purpose is strong, meeting all key bullet points with appropriate tone and relevance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

Your letter demonstrates a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. You make use of standard formal letter conventions, opening appropriately with "Dear Sir or Madam," and closing with "Yours sincerely,". Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, with distinct sections for introducing the purchase and stating details, describing the specific problems, and explaining the urgency and next steps. You use some cohesive devices such as "Although", "Not only... but also", and "Moreover" to link your ideas, although there is a slight mechanical feel to some transitions. Referencing is generally clear, and the overall arrangement of your information ensures the reader can easily follow your grievance from start to finish. To achieve an even higher band, you could integrate more varied and flexible cohesive devices rather than relying on standard connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as "express", "ceremony", and "consideration". However, there are notable lexical and spelling inaccuracies that prevent a higher score. For example, you wrote "two pair of shirts" instead of "two pairs of shirts", and "not satisfy" instead of "not satisfied". Additionally, "colours are fade" should be "colours are faded", and "promt" contains a spelling error for "prompt". You also used "comparetively same", which is an unnatural collocation. These word-choice and spelling errors do not impede communication since your meaning remains clear, but they highlight the need for greater precision in word forms and spelling to reach the next band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

Your writing displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating structures such as conditional and subordinate clauses (e.g., "Although delivery of my purchase is on time, I am not satisfy..." and "I would appreciate if you will do replacement..."). There are some noticeable errors in grammar and punctuation, though they rarely impede communication. For instance, "I have ordered" should ideally be past simple ("I ordered") given the specific past date provided, and "I place an order" should also be past tense. Furthermore, "do replacement" should be phrased as "provide a replacement", and "in upcoming two days" requires an article ("in the upcoming two days"). You demonstrate a reasonable control of basic sentence patterns, but frequent minor grammatical slips in verb tenses and articles keep this criterion at the current level.

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

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