Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-13

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 7.0)

Dear Sarah,

I hope this letter finds you in high spirits and radiant health. I am writing this letter to express my concern and disappointment about the broken laptop I left at my apartment when I was away.

Do you remember last month you stayed in my apartment for two weeks when I left to another city on my business trip. Now I am back and realized my laptop's display screen has been broken.

I had bought this laptop recently as I needed the specific software and technical dimensions to achieve my professional tasks. Now I can not see through the screen and access to my latest official files I have worked with.

I am short of money and can not afford to buy this laptop again. If you could help me replacing and repairing the screen so that I can access to my data files, I would really be grateful to you.

Pay my regards to your parents and looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Best Regards,

Maria

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The student has successfully addressed all three bullet points required in the task. The letter opens with an appropriate salutation and clear purpose, describing the broken item as a 'laptop's display screen' and detailing its condition. The second bullet point is covered by explaining that it is important because it is required for professional tasks and accessing official files. Finally, the third bullet point is met by clearly stating what the writer would like the friend to do ('help me replacing and repairing the screen'). The tone is semi-formal and appropriate for writing to a friend, maintaining a clear and consistent communicative purpose throughout. All parts of the prompt are well-covered, resulting in a strong band score for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The letter exhibits a clear logical organisation and progression from the opening pleasantries to the explanation of the issue, its significance, and the requested action. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as the introduction, the description of the damage, the importance of the device, and the concluding request. Cohesive devices are generally used effectively, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical, such as 'Now I am back and realized' and 'Now I can not see'. Referencing is clear throughout the text, allowing the reader to follow the narrative effortlessly without any confusion regarding the sequence of events or the relationship between the writer and the friend.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates an adequate and sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating less common phrases such as 'radiant health', 'specific software', and 'professional tasks'. However, there are some minor lexical and collocational inaccuracies that prevent a higher band score. For example, the phrase 'help me replacing' should be 'help me replace', and 'access to my data files' contains a slight redundancy. Additionally, 'short of money' is slightly informal compared to the rest of the text, though acceptable. Spelling and word choice are generally clear and do not impede communication, showing a good attempt at varied vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures ('If you could help me... I would really be grateful') and relative clauses ('files I have worked with'). There are several grammatical errors present, such as missing articles ('I left to another city on my business trip' instead of 'on a business trip'), tense inconsistencies ('you stayed' versus 'you have stayed'), and preposition errors ('access to' used as a verb). Despite these frequent minor errors, punctuation is generally sound and the errors do not impede overall communication. The grammatical control is solid enough to meet the descriptors for Band 6.

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

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