Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-11-14

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You rode in a taxi yesterday. When you got home, you realized you had left your bag in the taxi.

Write a letter to the manager of the taxi company. In your letter
• explain how you lost your bag.
• describe your bag.
• ask the manager to help you find it.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.0)

when i come to home i left my bag in the car then when i got home i realise that i left my bag in the car then i need my bag .

And my bag is full of my makeup things like face powder, blesson ,lipstick ,eyelashes seasor ,maskara ,lip liner ,eyeliner , eyebrows liner my poundatin for face and others things like my mobile and my charger and food when i was come to home i buy some foods on the way its also in my bag that why i want my bag left and also others thing in my bag like my personal things which i need in emergiency situation and now just i want my bag back .

And the other is i want that you will back me my bag if you don,t mind give me my bag and i really need my bag and my makeup and also i want my charger because my phone charge is very low and in the coming time my phone will be dead and i need my phone for call to my mather and talk to you for my missing bag and then please help me to back me my bag when you back me my bag i shall be very thank full to you i urgently need my bag when you give me my bag you will make me the happiest person in the world thats why i request to you

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the three main points: you say the bag was left in the taxi, list its contents, and ask the manager to help return it. The details about makeup, your phone, charger and food make the situation specific. However, the explanation of how the bag was lost is unclear and repetitive: “when i come to home i left my bag in the car” is followed by a similar statement, without explaining the taxi journey or when you noticed the loss. The description gives contents but not the bag’s appearance, such as its colour, size or style, which would help identify it. The request is clear in intention, but should specify practical help, such as checking the driver’s vehicle and contacting you if it is found.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response contains relevant information, and the reader can broadly follow the sequence from discovering the loss to describing the contents and asking for help. However, the ideas are crowded into long blocks, with no clear paragraphing or formal opening and closing. Repeated links such as “and,” “then” and “also” make the progression mechanical, while repeated statements about wanting the bag obscure the main request. For example, the final section repeats “i really need my bag” and “i urgently need my bag” rather than moving to a clear action for the manager. Organise the letter into short paragraphs for the incident, the bag’s description, and the request, and use a few precise transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough basic vocabulary to communicate the central situation and provide a range of relevant item names, including “lipstick,” “charger” and “mobile.” However, the vocabulary is repetitive, especially “bag,” “need” and “give me my bag,” and several spelling or word-choice errors make parts of the list difficult to understand, such as “b lesson,” “eyelashes seasor” and “poundatin.” Some expressions are also unnatural for a formal letter, including “back me my bag” and “the happiest person in the world.” Use more precise terms for identifying the bag and its contents, and choose conventional polite language when asking for assistance. Proofreading spelling would make the details easier for the manager to use.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response attempts to connect ideas in longer sentences, but these structures are often faulty and make the timeline or relationships between ideas unclear. For example, “when i come to home i left my bag in the car” mixes verb forms, and “when i was come to home i buy some foods” has errors in tense and sentence structure. Articles and prepositions are also often missing or incorrectly used, as in “in the car” without a clear reference to the taxi and “talk to you for my missing bag.” Most sentences run together without reliable punctuation, so it is difficult to see where one idea ends. Practise accurate past-tense sentences and separate each main point into complete sentences before attempting longer structures.

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

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