Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-10

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,

I am writing to inform you that I left my bag in one of your taxis. Yesterday, I booked a Casino Taxi from Clayton Park to Hollis Street around 5:00 pm. There was an accident on my way, so I told the driver to drop me off in the middle of the road because I was getting late. In a hurry, I forgot to take my bag with me.

Let me describe my bag: it is a Guess brown handbag with two compartments, and it has a brand logo on the front. My bag contains my wallet, a laptop, and a few important documents. When I reached my home, I realised that I left my handbag in the taxi, I was unable to call because the hours of operations are closed.

It would be really appreciated if you could convey to your team that if they found my bag, they should deposit it in the lost and found department. Once my handbag is found, could you please give me a call? I will come to your office to pick up my bag.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Anamika

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 8.0

The letter covers all three required points clearly: you explain that you left the bag after asking to be dropped off in a hurry, describe it as a brown Guess handbag with two compartments and a logo, and request help locating it. The details about its contents and your plan to collect it make the request practical and well developed. The purpose and polite tone are clear throughout. To make the response even more complete, provide a way for the company to identify the journey, such as a booking reference or your contact number, and ask whether the driver can be contacted directly. These are minor additions; the task is otherwise addressed well.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.5

The information follows a clear sequence: the journey and loss are explained first, the bag is described next, and the final paragraph makes your request. Paragraphing supports this progression, while phrases such as “Let me describe my bag” and “Once my handbag is found” help guide the reader. The letter is easy to follow overall. Some links could be smoother: the sentence beginning “When I reached my home” joins two complete thoughts with only a comma, and “if they found my bag” is slightly awkward in the request. Separating the first into two sentences and using a more direct transition into the request would make cohesion more polished.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

You use a suitable range of vocabulary for a formal lost-property letter, including “booked,” “compartments,” “important documents,” and “lost and found department.” The bag’s identifying features are specific, and the tone is generally appropriate. There are occasional imprecise or unnatural choices: “hours of operations are closed” is not a natural way to describe the company’s availability, and “convey to your team” sounds less direct than the context requires. “Drop me off in the middle of the road” may also suggest an unsafe location rather than simply a roadside stop. Choose more idiomatic phrases such as “the office was closed” and “inform your drivers,” while retaining the clear, relevant detail shown here.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

The letter includes a useful mix of simple and complex structures, such as “There was an accident on my way, so I told the driver…” and the conditional request “if they found my bag.” Many sentences are clear and correctly formed. A few errors remain. In “When I reached my home, I realised that I left my handbag in the taxi, I was unable to call,” two independent clauses are joined by a comma; use a full stop or conjunction, and keep the past-tense sequence consistent (“had left”). The phrase “the hours of operations are closed” also has an awkward grammatical construction. Greater control of sentence boundaries and tense sequencing would make the otherwise understandable writing more accurate.

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