Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-13

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 6.0)

Dear sir,

I wanted to take a moment to reach out to you. I have recently bought a jacket, but when I got home, I saw that it was damaged and when I took it back to the store, they seller told me that it cannot be returned and that is the reason I am writing to you.

Let me explain you the issue when I bought that jacket from your store, there was so many people around me when I was choosing the jacket, So I didn't notice that there is any issue in a jacket. But when I got home I saw there was a problem in the zipper of a jacket.

I would kindly request you to take a look at into this matter and just let me know if you can help me with this. If it is possible to help me out with this situation by changing or returning this jacket. I would be very grateful of you if you can help me out.

Waiting for your positive response.

Best Regards,

Navyakumar Rabari.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter covers all three bullet points required by the prompt: describing the damage, explaining the previous interaction at the store, and stating the desired outcome. The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint. However, the development of ideas is somewhat repetitive, particularly in the second and third paragraphs where the request for a refund or exchange is restated multiple times. To reach a higher band, the student should focus on providing more specific details, such as the date of purchase or the receipt number, to make the request more professional and actionable for the manager.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the narrative. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite basic and sometimes repetitive. For example, the phrase 'help me out' is used three times in the final paragraph, which makes the writing feel less sophisticated. The transition between the introduction and the body paragraphs is functional but lacks variety. Improving the use of linking words (e.g., 'consequently', 'furthermore', 'as a result') would help the ideas flow more naturally and improve the overall structure of the letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. The student relies on simple, repetitive phrasing such as 'I wanted to take a moment', 'there was so many people', and 'help me out'. There is little evidence of less common lexical items or idiomatic expressions that would demonstrate a higher level of proficiency. While the meaning is always clear, the word choice is functional rather than precise. To improve, the student should aim to use more formal business terminology appropriate for a letter of complaint.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The letter contains several grammatical errors that, while not impeding communication, are noticeable. There are issues with subject-verb agreement ('there was so many people'), article usage ('in a jacket'), and prepositional errors ('look at into this matter'). The sentence structures are predominantly simple or compound; there is a lack of complex sentence structures that would demonstrate a wider grammatical range. The student should focus on correcting basic errors in verb tense and article usage, and practice incorporating more complex sentence forms to improve accuracy and variety.

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

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