Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-23

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 am writing this letter to express my disappointing experience, when I recently bought a jacket from your store.

On last Sunday, I bought brown lather jacket in Medium size. When took trail that time I did not noticed the damage, but when I was at my home I saw some fade cloth taxture and undone stitching around the left pocket.

Next day I visit the store and ask for replacement or return. One of your staff member told me we can repalce it but there was no more jacket in Medium size so only return option left. So i went to the coustomer service and ask for return.

The lady was so rude to me and did not accept the jacket and she blame me like, the damage is done by me . Many time I bought clothes from your store and I appriciate other stafff members helping nature but your coustomer service employee is so rude and arrogant pleace took action towards this problem.

Yours faithful,

Himani Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all three bullet points required in the prompt. The writer describes the problem with the jacket by mentioning the 'fade cloth taxture and undone stitching around the left pocket', explains what happened during the return attempt with the store staff and policy, and clearly states what action they want the manager to take ('pleace took action towards this problem'). The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint letter, and all parts of the task are adequately addressed. Although there are some minor mechanical and linguistic errors, the main communicative goals of the letter are fully met, earning a solid band score.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression from describing the purchase and the fault, to recounting the visit to the store, and finally requesting action. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different stages of the narrative. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or missing, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the abrupt transitions between sentences in the second and third paragraphs (e.g., 'When took trail that time I did not noticed...'). Despite these flaws, the structure is easy to follow and the overall progression is clear, satisfying the descriptors for Band 6.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday retail concepts such as 'replacement', 'return', 'store manager', and 'customer service'. There are, however, several noticeable spelling and word choice errors, such as 'lather' instead of 'leather', 'taxture' instead of 'texture', 'visite' implied by 'visit', and 'coustomer'. Less common vocabulary attempts are present, but inaccuracies in spelling and collocation occasionally occur ('helping nature' instead of 'helpful nature'). These errors do not impede overall communication, but they prevent the score from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ability to connect clauses (e.g., 'When I was at my home I saw...'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors including missing articles ('in Medium size'), incorrect verb tenses and forms ('When took trail that time'), and spelling errors in auxiliary verbs ('did not noticed'). Punctuation and capitalization are also inconsistent, particularly at the beginning of sentences and with comma placement. While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they are sufficiently frequent to restrict the grammar score to Band 5.0.

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

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