Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-03

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 7.0)

Dear Manager,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter in regards to my bag I left in a Taxi I boarded yesterday under your company.

About 12pm yesterday, I booked a ride from London Central going to Manchester which arrived at about 12:15pm. The car was a small yellow Toyota Camry. The driver was an Indian man who helped put my 2 big duffel bags in the boot of the car. On reaching my stop, I forgot about one of the duffel bag due to being at a bit of a rush.

The bag in question is a 3-zipper neon green duffel bag with a Nike logo printed on the top close to the first zipper. I was heading to the gym so it contains a size 39 black Adiddas sneakers and a pair of Nike active wear.

I would appreciate your assistance in helping me locate the driver so as to help find my bag and deliver them to me. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Tayo Olugbami

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt, earning a strong score for task achievement. The writer clearly explains how the bag was lost by providing specific details about the journey from London Central to Manchester yesterday at 12pm. Furthermore, the bag is described thoroughly, including its 3-zipper design, neon green color, Nike logo, and gym contents such as sneakers and activewear. Finally, the request for assistance is clearly stated in the fourth paragraph. All requirements of the bullet points are fully covered with relevant and extended ideas, demonstrating a clear understanding of the transactional letter format required in general tasks.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter maintains a clear logical organization and progression throughout. Ideas are logically sequenced, moving naturally from the opening statement to the details of the journey, a description of the lost item, and finally the call to action. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate distinct themes, such as the travel details in one paragraph and the physical description of the bag in the next. Cohesive devices and referencing are generally well managed, allowing the reader to follow the narrative easily. To move closer to a higher band, the transitional phrases between paragraphs could be made slightly more sophisticated, though the current layout is already coherent and appropriate for a standard correspondence task.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary with some flexibility and precision, successfully using less common items such as 'duffel bags', 'boot of the car', and 'active wear'. Word choices are generally appropriate for describing a lost item and communicating with a service manager. There are minor spelling and word choice errors, such as the misspelling of 'Adiddas' and the slight lexical slip in 'at a bit of a rush' instead of 'in a bit of a rush', but these do not impede communication. The use of functional vocabulary allows the writer to convey precise details about the lost property.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response shows a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and prepositional phrases successfully. There is good control over past tense narrative verbs such as 'booked', 'arrived', and 'forgot', as well as appropriate modal verbs in the request section. Some minor grammatical inaccuracies persist, such as 'in regards to' instead of 'with regard to', and the plural pronoun mismatch in the final paragraph where the writer refers to a singular bag as 'them' ('deliver them to me'). However, these errors are relatively infrequent and punctuation is generally sound, allowing the letter to read smoothly without causing misinterpretation.

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.