Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-27

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 or Madam,

I hope you are in good health and spirit. I am writing this letter to represent my concern regarding recent purchase of Jacket from your store. I bought this jacket on 5th september around 4:00pm. The color of Jacket is black and its leather one.

When I reached home I tried the jacket in front of my mirror then I saw a hole on the arms of Jacket. I was panicked and i immediatley went to your store and I shared the whole situation and showed them the problem to your employee.

I asked them to exchange or returned the product. they mentioned that product cannot be change or refunded due to their policy. Moreover, I told them that I want to talk with manager then they said If I have to discuss this problem with you i have to email you.

I hope you will understand my concern and gave me suitable optional. I donot want refund Just exchange the defeact product.

Your faithfully,

Abc

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You successfully cover all three bullet points required in the task instructions. You describe the problem with the jacket by mentioning the date of purchase, color, material, and the specific defect, which is a hole on the arm. You also explain what happened when you tried to return it, detailing your interaction with the store employee regarding their return policy and the instruction to email the manager. Finally, you state what you would like the manager to do, clearly requesting an exchange rather than a refund. Your tone is appropriately formal and polite for a complaint letter. All parts of the prompt are addressed fully, demonstrating a clear purpose and position throughout the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your letter has a clear overall progression, moving logically from the context of the purchase to the discovery of the defect, the store visit, and your final request. You appropriately begin with the standard greeting 'Dear Sir or Madam,' and close with 'Your faithfully,'. However, paragraphing is somewhat weak, as the body of your letter forms one continuous block of text rather than distinct paragraphs for each main idea. Cohesive devices are used, but they can be repetitive or basic, such as 'When', 'then', and 'Moreover'. Improving paragraph breaks for each bullet point and employing a wider variety of transition words would elevate your coherence and cohesion score further.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating your message with terms like 'merchandise', 'policy', and 'exchange'. However, there are some noticeable lexical and collocational errors. For example, you write 'represent my concern' instead of 'express my concern', 'I was panicked' instead of 'I panicked', and 'defeact product' (along with spelling issues like 'immediatley'). You also omit necessary articles in places, such as 'recent purchase of Jacket' instead of 'a recent purchase of a jacket'. While you attempt some less common vocabulary, the occasional word-choice inaccuracies and spelling mistakes place this firmly in the Band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as time clauses ('When I reached home') and conditional statements ('if I have to discuss this problem'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors in punctuation, capitalization, and verb forms throughout your text. For instance, '5th september' should be capitalized, 'cannot be change' should be 'cannot be changed', 'gave me suitable optional' contains incorrect word forms (it should be 'give me a suitable option'), and 'I donot' has a spacing error. While these errors do not impede communication and the core message remains clear, the frequency of basic grammatical slips prevents a higher score.

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

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