Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-16

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,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing this letter about to you yesterday night I used your company’s taxi when I arrived at my home,I realized that time I forgot my wallet in the taxi.

First,I booked taxi at 9’o clock from my self phone. I taken taxi from Queen street to at my home address.The taxi was black Honda city and the number is CV345JE. My wallet colour is pink and it had two separate zip. I stick a black and red colour spidermen sticker on the top. My wallet inside has in 5 cards. One is credit card, second one is debit card, third one is company access card, fourth is laundry card and fifth is driving license and also have some cash in it around $115.

I kindly request that to you if you find out please call me because my all important card inside. I hope you consider my request as soon as and I would appreciate If it you respond me as soon as.

Thank you

Nimisha

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The candidate addresses all parts of the task satisfactorily. The letter explains how the bag was lost by mentioning the taxi journey from Queen Street to home on the previous night at 9 o'clock. The bag (described as a pink wallet with two separate zips, a Spiderman sticker, five cards, and around $115 cash) and the taxi details (a black Honda City, registration CV345JE) are clearly described. Finally, the candidate asks the manager for assistance in finding it. The tone is appropriately semi-formal, although the opening salutation "Dear sir" could be improved. All bullet points are covered adequately, though the development could be slightly more polished to reach higher bands. Therefore, a band score of 6.5 is well-deserved as all communicative requirements are met.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter demonstrates a clear overall progression of ideas, moving from the initial situation to the specific details of the trip and wallet, and concluding with a request for help. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped, and the text runs together into large blocks with limited cohesive control. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly placed, such as "First, I booked taxi at 9’o clock from my self phone. I taken taxi from Queen street to at my home address." Referencing is occasionally unclear, and punctuation errors disrupt the flow of sentences. While the letter is coherent and easy to follow, the lack of effective paragraphing and basic transitional control places it firmly at band 5.5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the candidate to successfully convey details about the wallet, its contents, and the taxi. However, there are numerous lexical and word-choice inaccuracies, such as "my self phone" instead of "my mobile phone", "I taken taxi" instead of "I took a taxi", and "My wallet inside has in 5 cards" instead of "My wallet contains five cards". The candidate attempts some less common vocabulary, but word formation and collocation errors are noticeable, such as "my all important card inside". Although these errors do not impede overall communication, they restrict the lexical score to a band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The candidate attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the response, including tense issues ("yesterday night I used... I realized that time I forgot"), missing articles ("I booked taxi", "The taxi was black Honda city"), and preposition errors ("from Queen street to at my home address"). Run-on sentences and comma splices also occur, such as when listing the cards in the wallet. While some simpler sentences are accurate, the high frequency of basic grammatical errors and poor punctuation prevent the writing from achieving a higher score.

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.