Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-04

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 7.5)

Dear Simran,

I hope you're doing well! I'm writting about something I discovered after returning from my trip last weekend. Unfortunately, I noticed that my vintage table lamp in my living room had been broken while you were staying at my apartment.

It appears that the lamp was knocked over, as the ceramic base has a large crack and the lampshade is sightly damaged. In completely understand that accidents happen, so please don't feel bad about it. However, this particular lamp is quite special to me because it was gifted from my grandmother when I moved into my first apartment. She had owned it for many years, and it considerable has sentimental value, even though it is not particularly expensive.

Would you mind taking it to a repair shop to see wheather it can be restored? I have found a local specialist who repairs vintage items and I can send you their details.

If the lamp cannot be repaired, I would appriciate it if you could contribute towards replacing it with something similar. I hope we can sort this out mutually, as I really value our friendship.

Please let me know your thoughts, I am sure we can find a solution for it.

Best wishes,

Mahima

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 8.5

The response covers all parts of the task very well and develops each requirement appropriately. You successfully describe the broken possession by mentioning your vintage table lamp, the cracked ceramic base, and the slightly damaged lampshade. You clearly explain why it is important to you by highlighting that it was a gift from your grandmother when you moved into your first apartment, which gives it significant sentimental value. Finally, you explain what you would like your friend to do by asking her to check if it can be repaired at a local shop or, alternatively, to contribute towards its replacement. The tone is polite and appropriate for a letter to a friend. To reach the highest level, your ideas could be even more fully extended with slightly more detail about the specific circumstances of the accident, though your current coverage is already exceptionally strong.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 8.0

Your letter demonstrates clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Ideas are logically sequenced, beginning with a friendly opening and the discovery of the damage, moving into the description and sentimental value, and concluding with a proposed solution and a warm sign-off. You manage cohesive devices well, using expressions like 'Unfortunately', 'However', and 'If the lamp cannot be repaired' to guide the reader smoothly from one point to the next. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, with distinct paragraphs handling separate aspects of the task, such as the description of the item versus the suggested actions. To move even higher, you could incorporate more sophisticated referencing and seamless transitions, ensuring that every cohesive link feels entirely natural and unobtrusive.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

You demonstrate a sufficient lexical range that allows for some flexibility and precision in describing the situation. You successfully use less common items and show an awareness of style with appropriate collocations, such as 'vintage table lamp', 'ceramic base', 'sentimental value', and 'repair shop'. However, there are a few lexical and spelling inaccuracies that prevent a higher score, such as 'writting' instead of 'writing', 'sightly' instead of 'slightly', 'considerable' instead of 'considerably', 'wheather' instead of 'whether', and 'appriciate' instead of 'appreciate'. To reach a higher band, you need to eliminate these spelling slips and demonstrate a wider range of sophisticated vocabulary with greater control over word forms and spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

You display a good variety of complex structures and produce frequent error-free sentences, demonstrating solid control of grammar and punctuation. Your sentences combine simple and complex forms effectively, as seen in conditional structures like 'If the lamp cannot be repaired, I would appreciate it if you could contribute...' and noun clauses such as '...to see whether it can be restored'. While your punctuation is generally good, there are a few minor slips and awkward phrasings, such as 'gifted from my grandmother' (which is better phrased as 'gifted to me by my grandmother' or 'a gift from my grandmother'). To achieve a higher score, you should increase the proportion of entirely error-free complex sentences and ensure complete precision in prepositional usage and grammatical patterns.

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

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