Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-17

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/ Madam,

I am writing this letter to inform you about the bag that I forgot on one of your taxi.

I booked a taxi from your company yesterday to travel from my home to office. I was in a rush as i have important meeting with employers and business officials. I had one laptop bag and the other one is the which i usually carry to my office. I forgot my laptop bag in your taxi.

Moreover, it's brown leather bag with some keychains on the side. It has two different portions and a adjustable strap.

Adding more information, i remember that when i was about to sat on your taxi i saw a sticker on the front side of the taxi. I think this information can help you to find the taxi easily.

Hope to hear from you soon.

your sincerely,

Navpreet

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions: you explain how the bag was lost by detailing your taxi journey and rush, you describe the bag as a brown leather laptop bag with keychains, two portions, and an adjustable strap, and you ask the manager for help. However, there are minor omissions in development regarding the details of the journey, and importantly, the length requirement of 150 words has not been met, as the response stands at 145 words. Because the word count falls slightly below the minimum limit, a minor penalty has been applied to Task Achievement, restricting the score to a 5.5. To achieve a higher band, ensure you fully develop your ideas and always surpass the minimum word count threshold.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter maintains a clear purpose throughout and has an overall logical arrangement. Paragraphing is used to separate the opening, the explanation of the loss, the description, the additional details, and the closing. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes disjointed due to abrupt transitions, such as starting a new paragraph with 'Adding more information'. Cohesive devices are occasionally used mechanically or inappropriately, and referencing is not always completely clear, such as in the phrase 'the other one is the which i usually carry'. Paragraph structures are somewhat basic and fragmented. Improving the flow between sentences and ensuring smoother transitions would elevate this score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing you to successfully convey your message to the taxi manager. You attempt some less common items such as 'adjustable strap' and 'business officials', demonstrating a reasonable lexical range. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as saying 'forgot... on one of your taxi' instead of 'in one of your taxis', and 'when i was about to sat on your taxi' instead of 'get into'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but capitalization errors ('i', 'navpreet') and minor lexical inaccuracies occasionally appear. A wider and more precise range of vocabulary is needed to reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as 'I booked a taxi from your company yesterday to travel from my home to office.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including tense and subject-verb agreement issues like 'as i have important meeting' instead of 'as I had an important meeting', and 'about to sat' instead of 'about to sit'. Punctuation and capitalization are inconsistent, particularly with the lowercase pronoun 'i' and the sign-off 'your sincerely'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, their frequency prevents the response from achieving a higher band score. Greater attention to basic grammatical accuracy and complex sentence control is recommended.

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

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