Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-30

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 formally writing this letter to inform you that i was riding in in your Black Taxi number plate B-098 driver named john,When the driver drove me back after getting in to my house i has realised i forgot my bag inside taxi.

Actually i have booked the ride from Manchester to London so i had a long drive so i decided to call my bestfriend to pass my time,and put my bag below the seat because i decided to lay down for a short time while talking.

It was a black bag by a Coach you can definitely by the logo of C on it.It has long golden coloured chains and the front of the bag was little bit scratched.

I have all my cards into it my ID card,My driving License and my work card so i will be needing it on working day so i would request you to kindly search for my bag as i have mentioned my bag condition,I hope you will prompt attention to this matter.

Yours Faithfully.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You successfully covered all three bullet points required in the prompt. You explained how you lost your bag by mentioning the ride from Manchester to London, calling a friend, and placing the bag below the seat. You also described your bag as a black Coach bag with a 'C' logo, long golden-coloured chains, and a slight scratch on the front. Finally, you asked the manager to help you find it and mentioned that you need it for important cards like your ID and driving licence. The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint or request to a taxi company manager. However, some ideas run together in long run-on sentences, but the overall task is fully addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The letter opens with the required salutation and follows a logical sequence from explaining the situation to describing the bag and making the request. However, paragraphing is extremely poor, as the entire body of the letter is compressed into a single, massive block of text. There is also a lack of appropriate cohesive devices to transition between ideas smoothly, relying instead on repetitive conjunctions like 'and' and 'so'. Reference pronouns are sometimes vague, such as 'it' referring back across multiple clauses. To achieve a higher band score, you need to break your text into clear, distinct paragraphs for each main point and use a wider range of linking words.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for completing the task, but it remains quite basic and conversational. You attempt some less common items such as 'formally writing', 'realised', and 'driving licence', but there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'pass my time' instead of 'pass the time' and 'putting my bag below the seat'. Spelling is generally acceptable, though there are punctuation and capitalization issues (e.g., lower-case 'i', 'john', 'coach'). To improve, you should incorporate more precise, formal vocabulary related to travel and lost property.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You demonstrate an attempt at complex sentences by using subordinating clauses such as 'when the driver drove me back after getting in to my house'. However, your control over punctuation and sentence boundaries is weak, resulting in heavy run-on sentences spliced together with commas instead of full stops or proper conjunctions (e.g., 'driver named john,When the driver...'). There are also recurring grammatical errors, including tense inconsistency ('was riding' mixed with 'has realised') and missing articles ('inside taxi', 'on working day'). Simple structures are generally correct, but complex structures frequently contain errors that cause some difficulty for the reader.

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

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