Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · 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 7.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Rudresh Patel and I booked a cab yesterday from your company. I am writing to inform you that I had forgotten my bagpack which was on front seat. I remember a few key details about my reservation such as the driver's name was Liam and the car plate was DDXX 1111. Moreover, my pickup was from Super 8 motel and my drop off point was the domestic airport.

It was a brown leather laptop bag with a brown strap. The distinctive feature of the bag is that I have my initials engraved on it. I think I got a call as soon as we reached the airport and so I forgot to take the bag with me. It is important for me to get the bag as soon as possible as I have my laptop inside of it.

I would appreciate your help in finding the bag and returning it to me. Furthermore, I will pay for any courier charges. I hope you understand the seriousness of this situation and do the necessary.

Thanking you,

Rudresh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

You successfully cover all the bullet points required for this formal request. You explain how the bag was lost by mentioning that you received a call immediately upon reaching the airport, describe it as a brown leather laptop bag with your initials engraved on it, and ask the manager for assistance. Your ideas are well-extended with specific details such as the driver's name, Liam, the vehicle license plate, and your exact route from the Super 8 motel to the domestic airport. To reach an even higher band, you could expand slightly more on the urgency or the contents of the bag to fully flesh out every part of the narrative with maximum depth.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.5

Your letter demonstrates a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. You begin with a direct opening statement of purpose and immediately follow it with essential reservation details in the first paragraph. The transition into describing the bag and explaining the distraction in the second paragraph flows naturally, and you conclude with a polite request for help and an offer to pay courier charges. You use appropriate cohesive devices such as 'Moreover' and 'Furthermore' to link your ideas, maintaining a coherent overall arrangement that guides the reader effortlessly from start to finish.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary for the task with good precision, using functional terms such as 'reservation', 'domestic airport', 'distinctive feature', and 'seriousness of this situation'. You incorporate less common items and show an awareness of formal style appropriate for a business correspondence. There are occasional vocabulary or spelling inaccuracies, such as writing 'bagpack' instead of 'backpack', which prevent a higher score, but your word choices remain clear and fully comprehensible to the reader throughout the letter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

You display a good control of grammar and punctuation, successfully integrating a variety of complex sentence structures alongside simpler forms. You produce frequent error-free sentences, such as your polite closing request and your description of the route. However, a few minor errors persist, such as the tense shift in 'I had forgotten my bagpack which was on front seat' (where the simple past 'forgot' and the missing article before 'front seat' would be more accurate). Despite these occasional slips, your punctuation and verb forms show strong overall control and never impede communication.

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.