Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-14

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 5.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I hope you are doing great. I am writing a letter to inform you that i lost my bag in one of taxi from your company.

Actually, yesterday i was travelling from my office to my home from a taxi . And when i came home i saw i do not have my bag with me . One important thing this taxi is shared so there was one another lady sitting.

My bag is black color and it has all my important documnets also some cash . I really appperciate if you find my bah because it is very essential for me . I will gave all the cash to your company to find the bag .

I hope you will find bah as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully

prabhjot kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The candidate has partially addressed all the requirements of the prompt by explaining the loss of the bag, describing its appearance and contents, and asking for assistance. However, the response falls short of the minimum 150-word requirement, containing only 135 words, which impacts the overall development of the task. While the tone is appropriate for a formal letter of complaint and request, the ideas are slightly underdeveloped. For instance, the mention of the shared taxi and another passenger is relevant, but the description of the bag is basic ("black color and it has all my important documnets also some cash"). To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to expand on the details of the journey, such as the exact time and taxi number, and ensure the word count requirement is fully met.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear purpose established right from the beginning. The student uses basic cohesive devices like "And", "Actually", and "One important thing", though some transitions feel a bit conversational or mechanical for a formal business letter. Paragraphing is attempted, but the text is broken into too many short, fragmented paragraphs rather than cohesive blocks of related ideas. Referencing is generally clear, but the repetition of phrases like "I hope you will find" creates a disjointed flow in places. Improving paragraph structure and utilizing a wider variety of formal cohesive devices would significantly enhance the logical progression of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but it remains basic and repetitive. The student successfully utilizes everyday words like "travelling", "office", "home", and "cash", but attempts at less common vocabulary are either absent or contain spelling errors, such as "documnets" and "appperciate". There are also awkward word choices and phrasing, such as "lost my bag in one of taxi" (missing an article) and "I will gave all the cash" (grammatical error in lexical form). While the message is still communicated clearly, the limited range of lexical items and spelling inaccuracies place this response firmly in the Band 5.0 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple sentence forms and a few attempted complex structures, such as "I am writing a letter to inform you that i lost my bag..." and "when i came home i saw i do not have my bag with me". However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including lowercase "i" usage, missing prepositions or articles ("in one of taxi", "from a taxi"), tense shifts ("saw i do not have"), and incorrect verb forms ("I will gave all the cash"). These errors can cause occasional difficulty for the reader. Greater control over basic grammar and a wider variety of error-free complex sentences are needed to progress to a higher band.

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

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