Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-08

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 5.5)

Dear sir or madam,

I am writing to about left my bag in your company's taxi during my ride yesterday.

I hope you find this latter. My name is Inder kumar. Yesterday, I book a ride from downtown to 23 sandalwood road east. The taxi number is EXTQ2341. The weather was bad like too much windy as well as rain yesterday. Because of that I forgot my in the car .

Moving further, It is brown colour leather bag. It made by Gucci brand. I hanged a small bear on side the chain. Further more, some important documents inside my bag like my credit card as well as my driving license.

Thus, I really appericate you If you could help me to find out my bag. Kindly, ask from your derivers about the bag who drive last day on that route. I will share my email please send me email if you get any information about my bag, I will carry my bag from your location.

I am looking forward for your positive response.

yours faithfully,

Inder kumar

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task: explaining how the bag was lost, describing the bag, and requesting assistance. The tone is generally appropriate for a formal letter to a company manager. However, the development of ideas is somewhat basic. For instance, while you mention the weather, it is not clearly linked to the loss of the bag, and the description of the bag could be more precise to help the manager identify it. To improve, ensure that each point is fully elaborated with relevant details that would help the recipient resolve the issue effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your narrative. You use some basic cohesive devices such as 'Moving further' and 'Thus' to transition between ideas. However, some of these transitions feel slightly mechanical or unnatural. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the sentence 'I forgot my in the car,' where the object is missing. Improving the flow between sentences and ensuring that pronouns clearly refer back to their antecedents would enhance the overall coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for this task, using terms like 'documents,' 'credit card,' and 'driving license.' However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and minor errors, such as 'I hanged a small bear' (should be 'hung') and 'I will carry my bag' (should be 'collect' or 'retrieve'). Some phrases are also slightly repetitive. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise collocations and ensuring that your word choices are contextually accurate for a formal business letter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You use a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'I am writing to about left my bag' (incorrect verb form), 'I book a ride' (tense inconsistency), and 'too much windy' (incorrect adjective usage). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with capitalization and comma placement. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to affect the clarity of your message. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and consistent tense usage will significantly improve your accuracy.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.