Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-05

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 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter to express my concern regarding the shirt. I had placed an order of American eagle XL size shirt on the official website last Sunday. The product worths $80. Being an American eagle brand lover, I often purchase XL. However, this time the shirt seems to be small than the actual one which made me disappointed.

It would be appreciated if you replace the item at your earliest convenience. I have my annual function at college, therefore, I am planning to wear that on this particular occasion.

Although replacement time is 5 business days, there are some circumstances that may cause delay. It is my humble request to you that please try to avoid such situations. I am going to attach my receipt below. Feel free to contact me for any additional information.

I hope you will understand my concern and take appropriate steps.

Yours sincerely,

Nikhil.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You successfully cover all parts of the bullet points required in the task. You give clear details of the purchase, including the brand, size, website, and price of the shirt. You clearly describe the problem by stating that the shirt is smaller than expected. You also explain your urgent need for a replacement by mentioning your college annual function and your plan to wear the item on that special occasion. Your tone is generally appropriate for a formal complaint letter. To move further up the band scale, you could extend and support your ideas with even greater depth and precision, avoiding slight over-generalisations about shipping timelines, ensuring every point is fully expanded without unnecessary assumptions about company policies.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

Your letter demonstrates a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct and purposeful function, starting with the statement of purpose and details of the purchase, moving into the problem and the urgent need for a replacement, and finishing with a polite closing statement. You use cohesive devices reasonably well, such as transitional phrases like 'However' and 'Although', though referencing and transitions could be slightly smoother in places. To achieve a higher level of cohesion, you could ensure that cohesive devices are used with absolute flexibility and precision, avoiding any slight mechanical feel in how sentences link together across the middle sections of the letter.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating your message about the clothing purchase and the sizing issue. You make some attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'express my concern' and 'earliest convenience', though there are some inaccuracies in word choice and word form, such as 'product worths' instead of 'product is worth' and 'small than' instead of 'smaller than'. These errors do not impede communication, but they reflect a typical profile of this band level. To reach a higher score, you should focus on accurate collocations, correct verb-adjective word forms, and refining your vocabulary to sound more natural and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate structures like 'Although replacement time is 5 business days, there are some circumstances...' and 'I am writing this letter to express...'. There are some errors in grammar, such as missing articles ('at college' instead of 'at my college') and slight prepositional slips, but these errors rarely impede communication and you show good control over basic punctuation. To achieve a higher band, you would need to produce a greater frequency of error-free sentences using a wider variety of complex structures with consistent grammatical accuracy throughout the text.

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

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