Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-06

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 6.0)

Dear Sir,

I am writing this letter to inform you about an issue that requires your attention. I booked a taxi from your taxi company to went to home from my office.

I left my office at 4 pm and brought a bag and a laptop with me. I kept the bag on the seat beside me. I stopped for five minutes at the laundry shop to collect my uniform. I was in a hurry and forgot to take the bag with me. After that, I reached home and realized I have left my bag in the taxi. The bag is of medium size in black color. It contains a small wallet and a diary. The things in the bag are not much valuable but there is important information related to my clients. For my work, i really need my wallet and diary.

I would really appreciate it if you could contact the taxi driver and inquire about my bag. I am attaching the booking details of the taxi for your reference.

I hope you will take prompt action to resolve issue. Looking forward for your response.

Yours faithfully,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The letter covers all three bullet points required by the prompt: explaining the loss, describing the bag, and requesting assistance. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter to a manager. The ideas are relevant and clearly presented, though the explanation of the loss is slightly confusing; you mention stopping at a laundry shop, which implies you left the bag there, but then state you left it in the taxi. Clarifying this sequence would improve the logical flow. Overall, the task is fully addressed with sufficient detail to meet the requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Paragraphing is used, though the body could be split into two paragraphs—one for the incident and description, and one for the request—to improve readability. Cohesive devices such as 'After that' and 'For my work' are used, but the transition between ideas is sometimes a bit mechanical. The use of 'I am attaching' is a good example of a natural cohesive link. The overall progression is clear, and the reader can easily follow the narrative.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing you to describe the bag and the situation clearly. You use some functional vocabulary like 'booking details' and 'prompt action'. However, the range is somewhat limited and relies on simple descriptors. For instance, 'not much valuable' is grammatically incorrect and could be replaced with 'not of significant monetary value'. Expanding your range to include more precise adjectives and collocations would help you reach a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

There are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text. For example, 'to went to home' should be 'to go home', and 'realized I have left' should be 'realized I had left' to maintain correct tense consistency. Additionally, 'resolve issue' is missing an article ('the issue'). While you use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, the frequency of these minor errors prevents a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and article usage will significantly improve your accuracy.

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

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