Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-15

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 5.0)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter to express my dissatisfation with my recent purchase from your store.

On 10th of October, I visited one of your branches in the New Sudbury Centre mall and choose one dress for my graduation party. To be specific about my purchase, I bought a denim dress from your new arrival collection. Although the dress I tried in the trial

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The opening establishes the purpose clearly: you are dissatisfied with a recent purchase, and you begin to identify when and where you bought it and what the item was. However, the response stops before completing the purchase details and does not describe the actual problem with the dress or explain why a replacement is urgent. These are central requirements of the letter, so the task is addressed only minimally. The response also falls well short of the required 150 words, leaving too little space to develop the three requested points. To improve, complete the account of what was wrong, state the deadline or event that makes a replacement urgent, and clearly request the action you want the company to take.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The letter has an appropriate opening and a basic sequence: it states the reason for writing, then begins to describe the purchase. The transition “To be specific about my purchase” signals that you are adding detail. However, the response ends mid-sentence at “the trial,” so there is no completed progression to the problem, urgency, or requested solution. With only one developed paragraph, the reader cannot follow a complete letter structure. Organise the response into a short opening, a paragraph covering the purchase and defect, and a closing paragraph explaining the urgency and requested replacement. Complete each sentence and use clear links such as “Unfortunately” and “As my graduation is approaching” to guide the reader.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use several relevant expressions for a complaint letter, including “dissatisfaction,” “recent purchase,” “graduation party,” and “new arrival collection.” These make the context understandable and show some range beyond very basic vocabulary. However, there is a spelling error in “dissatisfation,” and “choose” is not the appropriate form in the sentence describing a completed purchase. “Trial” is also unclear in “the trial,” where “fitting room” would be more natural. Because the response is so brief, there is little evidence of flexible vocabulary for describing a defect or requesting a replacement. Proofread spelling and choose precise retail terms, then add specific language such as “the zip was faulty” or “exchange the item.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes a clear simple sentence (“I am writing this letter to express…”) and an attempt at a more complex sentence beginning “Although the dress…”. This shows some ability to vary sentence structure. There are, however, errors in the purchase sentence: “On 10th of October” needs an article (“On the 10th of October”), and “I … choose” should be “I … chose” because the purchase happened in the past. The final sentence is incomplete, ending after “the trial,” which prevents the contrast introduced by “Although” from being completed. Use consistent past-tense forms and ensure every sentence has a complete main clause; a final check for articles and verb forms would improve accuracy.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.