Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-27

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 5.5)

Dear Tom,

I'm writing this letter to express my dissatisfaction about damage laptop in my apartment, howevery your stayed in the premises for 10 days periods.

Last year, I bought my fully furnished beautiful penthouse with good balcony view in well known locatlity. As you know, I travel a lot so on my request you agreed to stay in my suite, However i was out of station for 7 days only. After coming back, found my laptop is broken due to putting some heavy books over it, Although it was a memorable gift from my parents, however they gifted on my last birthday, Although the visited my this house personally at that moment.

I know this damage is not made intentionally by you, however the damage is still a big financial loss to me. But, I will get it repaired as you helped me the time when i needed the most.

I look forward to hear from you.

Thanks and Regards

Naved

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You successfully covered all three bullet points required in the task instructions. You described the damaged item as a laptop broken due to heavy books being placed on it, explained its importance as a memorable birthday gift from your parents, and specified what you would like your friend to do, which is to have it repaired. The tone is generally appropriate for a semi-formal letter to a friend, balancing the awkwardness of the situation with a forgiving nature. However, some ideas are slightly confused by repetitive phrasing and minor tangents about the penthouse. Nevertheless, all parts of the prompt are addressed adequately, aligning with a Band 6.0 performance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical narrative structure from the greeting to the closing. Paragraphing is attempted, separating the introduction, the body points, and the conclusion. However, cohesion is frequently faulty or mechanical due to repetitive and incorrect use of linking words such as 'howevery' and 'however', which appear multiple times in close proximity and disrupt the natural flow. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun shifts and confusing sentence connectors ('Although it was a memorable gift... however they gifted...'). These issues place the response firmly in the Band 5.0 range for cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary range is adequate for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'dissatisfaction', 'fully furnished penthouse', and 'financial loss'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that detract from the quality, such as 'howevery', 'locatlity', and 'stayed in the premises for 10 days periods' instead of 'period'. Additionally, phrasing like 'out of station' is culturally specific and slightly unnatural in standard international English. These errors do not completely impede communication, allowing for a Band 5.5 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempted a mix of simple and complex sentence forms throughout the letter. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors in punctuation, sentence boundary mixing, and conjunction misuse. For instance, run-on sentences and comma splices are common, such as 'After coming back, found my laptop is broken...' and the excessive use of commas where full stops or subordinating clauses should be properly managed. Subject-verb agreements and tense consistency also show persistent flaws. Because these errors require some effort to parse, the grammar aligns with a Band 5.0 level.

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