Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-06

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 hoe you are foing well. i am writing this letter to inform you that yeasterday i hired a ride of your company for a mall whic is 5 miles aways from my home and the the time was 2:30pm.

my concern is that when he dropped of me in mall's parking area i was on phone call.

In hurry i left my hand bag in that car.

after few minuts i came back to collect but he has gone, may be for next ride.

i hope youe will understand my concern and your small effots will be very helpful to find my bag because there is some importent stuff in my bag as i discribed below.

. £80 in the shape of cash

. my childhood album

. my passport

The bag is in red color with silver stones handles .

as you ate a well known company with real costumer support your effots will be hoghly appricated.

thanks With best regards

Faisal

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, successfully covering how the bag was lost, describing the item, and asking for assistance. However, some parts are more fully developed than others. The explanation of the loss is provided with relevant details such as the time and destination, and the contents of the bag are listed clearly. Yet, the development of certain points remains somewhat brief or generalized, particularly the explanation of leaving the bag in the hurry and the immediate aftermath. Despite these minor limitations, the overall purpose of the letter is clear, and the recipient is given sufficient information to understand the situation and take action.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement, allowing the reader to follow the sequence of events from the taxi ride to discovering the missing bag. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, and paragraphing is underdeveloped, with several short, disjointed segments and bullet points rather than a well-structured essay format. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun shifts and vague links between sentences. While the basic structure of a formal letter is attempted with the correct opening, the flow between the explanation of the loss, the description of the bag, and the final request could be much smoother with more appropriate cohesive devices and better paragraph organization.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases such as 'well known company' and 'real costumer support'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'hoe' instead of 'hope', 'foing' instead of 'doing', 'yeasterday', 'aways', 'minuts', 'importent', 'discribed', and 'appricated'. While these errors do not severely impede communication and the reader can still understand the message, they highlight the limitations in lexical control and spelling accuracy that prevent the writing from achieving a higher rating.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to use subordinate clauses and relative structures, as seen in sentences like 'i am writing this letter to inform you that yeasterday i hired a ride of your company'. There are several errors in grammar, punctuation, and capitalization, including missing capital letters for the pronoun 'i', incorrect prepositions such as 'of your company' instead of 'from', awkward phrasing like 'dropped of me', and punctuation issues. Nevertheless, these grammatical and mechanical errors rarely impede overall communication, allowing the reader to grasp the intended meaning without undue difficulty.

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

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