Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-07

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You let a friend stay at your apartment while you were away on a trip. When you returned home, you discovered that a valuable possession was broken.

Write a letter to your friend. In your letter
• describe the broken possession.
• explain why it is important to you.
• explain what you would like your friend to do.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear _________,

Student answer (Band 5.0)

dear friend

hay sam , i hope you doing well , i just want to inform you i came at home today from my trip , it was great experience of my life and i enjoyed a-lot over there ,however , i entered my home today and i saw some peace of glasses broken , i hope you are fine , but this mirror was very close to my heart because i bough from dubai trip last year , and not only this but this was also very expencive .

i have very humble request for me , please buy a mirror like that for me because i dont want to argue with you about it , so i think this better way to solve our situations .

i hope you understand me ,your good friend sukhraj singh

thank you

sukhraj singh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The letter addresses all three bullet points: describing the item, explaining its importance, and requesting a solution. However, the response is under the 150-word minimum, which limits the development of ideas. The tone is somewhat blunt, particularly in the request for a replacement, which lacks the appropriate social nuance expected in a letter to a friend. To improve, you should expand on the description of the mirror and use more polite, indirect language when asking for compensation or a replacement to better suit the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter is organized into three short paragraphs, but the flow is disjointed. There is a lack of effective cohesive devices; sentences are often strung together with commas or simple conjunctions like 'but' and 'so'. The transition between the trip experience and the broken item is abrupt. To improve, use a wider variety of linking words (e.g., 'furthermore', 'consequently', 'unfortunately') to guide the reader through your thoughts and ensure that each paragraph has a clear, singular focus.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is quite basic and repetitive. There are several spelling errors, such as 'bough' instead of 'bought' and 'expencive' instead of 'expensive'. The phrasing is often unnatural, such as 'some peace of glasses' (pieces of glass) and 'solve our situations'. While the meaning is generally clear, the limited range of vocabulary and frequent spelling mistakes prevent a higher score. Focus on learning common collocations and checking your spelling for basic words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The letter contains frequent grammatical errors that affect readability. There are issues with verb tenses ('i hope you doing well' instead of 'are doing'), article usage ('the' or 'a' is often missing), and sentence structure (run-on sentences joined by commas). There is very little evidence of complex sentence structures. To improve, practice using relative clauses and varied sentence starters, and pay closer attention to subject-verb agreement and basic punctuation rules.

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

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