Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-11-01

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 6.5)

Dear Sir,

I am writing to inform you that I had booked a taxi from airport to my home yesterday. Everything was perfectly, however I forgot my bag in the taxi.

I sat on the back seat and I had three bags with me. The bags were bigger enough so driver had fitted one of the bag in the trunk. I was tired and had not enough sleep due to this I left it back there. When I searched in the morning , I could not find it.

It is a black leather bag and brown strips on the sides. It consists my passport, work related documents and my clothes.

I would appreciate it if you could help to find it and whatever cost will charge to deliver it to my home, I am ready to pay it at the real time.

I hope you will understand my situation and would try to resolve it sooner. I look forward to your positive respnse.

Yours sincerely,

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response7.0
Coherence and Cohesion7.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The letter addresses all three required points: you explain that you left the bag in the taxi after travelling from the airport, describe it as a black leather bag with brown strips, and ask the manager to help locate it and arrange delivery. The contents, including your passport and work documents, also make the request feel relevant and urgent. The purpose remains clear throughout, and the closing is appropriate. To make the response more fully developed, give the company practical details that could help identify the journey, such as the approximate time, pickup or drop-off location, or a booking or taxi number. You could also state more directly how the manager can contact you.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The information is arranged in a clear sequence: the journey and loss are introduced first, followed by the bag’s appearance and contents, then the request and closing. Separate paragraphs help the reader follow these stages, and linking phrases such as “however,” “When I searched in the morning,” and “I look forward to” guide the progression. The overall organisation is effective, though some links between ideas could be smoother. For example, the sentence beginning “I was tired” joins the reason for forgetting the bag and the discovery the next morning rather abruptly. Use clearer sentence boundaries and transitions, and connect the request for help more explicitly to the journey details so the letter reads as one smoothly developed account.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the situation and describe the item, including “leather bag,” “passport,” and “work related documents.” The wording is generally understandable, but several inaccurate or unnatural choices limit precision and flexibility. “Bigger enough” is not a natural expression, “It consists my passport” does not convey the intended meaning correctly, and “positive respnse” contains a spelling error. “At the real time” is also unclear in the context of paying for delivery. Choose more precise collocations and check spelling: for example, say the bag “contained” your belongings and that you are willing to “cover the delivery cost.” A wider range of natural phrases for identifying the journey would also strengthen the letter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The letter includes both simple statements and attempts at more complex structures, such as “I would appreciate it if you could help to find it” and the explanation of why the bag was left behind. However, errors in sentence construction and grammatical forms are noticeable. “Everything was perfectly” needs an adjective, while “I had booked a taxi from airport” is missing an article before “airport.” The sentence “I was tired and had not enough sleep due to this I left it back there” combines clauses without clear punctuation, making the relationship between ideas harder to follow. There are also problems with the structure of the request about delivery costs. Use complete, clearly punctuated sentences and check articles, verb forms, and clause boundaries.

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.