Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-07

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently bought a jacket, but when you got home, you discovered it was
damaged. When you took it back to the store, you were told that merchandise
cannot be returned.

Write a letter to the store manager. In your letter:
• describe the problem with the jacket.
• explain what happened when you tried to return it.
• say what you would like the manager to do.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Sir/Mam,

I am writing to inform you that I bought a jacket from the Octave store located in Chandigarh. It was a leather jacket, black in color and it costs me $850 When i came home i notices that the chain is not working properly and it was damaged.

After noticing that i went to the store again to return that jacket but i was astonished because shopkeeper told me you cannot return this item we do not have any kind of return policy in the store. I tried to exchange that with the another one but there was not anything that i like to buy, and it was expensive jacket.

I am entitled to make a claim for the value of the above mentioned item and request that you send me details on what I need to do in order to proceed.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Beant Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The letter covers all three bullet points required by the prompt. You clearly described the defect (the faulty chain), explained the store's refusal to provide a refund, and stated your desired outcome. The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint letter. To improve, you could provide more specific details, such as the date of purchase or the receipt number, to make the request more professional and realistic. Overall, the task is fully addressed, and the purpose of the letter is clear from the beginning.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Each paragraph focuses on a specific aspect of the task. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat limited and occasionally mechanical. For example, the transition between the description of the problem and the store visit could be smoother with better linking words. While the paragraphing is appropriate, the flow between sentences could be improved by using a wider variety of cohesive devices to connect ideas more fluidly rather than relying on simple sentence structures.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your message clearly. Words like 'astonished', 'entitled', and 'merchandise' are used correctly. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and informal choices, such as 'Dear Sir/Mam' (which should be 'Sir or Madam') and 'shopkeeper' (which is less precise than 'staff member' or 'sales assistant' in this context). The vocabulary is adequate for the task, but incorporating more precise business-related terminology would help elevate the score to a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The letter contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'it costs me' (should be 'it cost me'), 'When i came home i notices' (should be 'noticed'), and 'exchange that with the another one' (should be 'exchange it for another one'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with missing commas and capitalization of 'I'. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your meaning, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall accuracy of the writing.

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

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