Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-08

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 Raman ,

Hope you are doing well and be happy. I just want to say something about the broken possession i thick its might sound not good to wrote lletter about it i think may you fell bad about it or overthink. so, i just want to say that don't think much about it mistakes happen from anyone its not big deal and i will take care about it from my parents just let it go. the possession is close to me because its given by my grand mother.But ia mot saying to pay fot it just help me about if you know any way to fix it and or person who can can fix it because i didn't want to throught it in gargabe just let me know and we wil discuss further about it what we do next ot its look like same as before.

your friend inderjit

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the main situation and include the possession’s personal importance, explaining that it was a gift from your grandmother. You also make a clear request for help finding someone who can repair it, and reassure Raman that you are not asking for payment. However, the possession itself is never identified or described, so the reader cannot picture what was broken. The explanation of its importance is also brief, and the request is somewhat unclear: “help me about if you know any way to fix it” does not specify what practical help you expect. Develop these points with a description, a little more personal context, and a direct request to contact a repairer or recommend one.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The letter follows a broadly relevant order: you introduce the problem, explain that the item matters to you, and ask about repairing it. The greeting and sign-off also make the format recognisable. However, nearly all the ideas are placed in one long paragraph, and the progression is difficult to follow because several thoughts run together. For example, the opening moves from concern about writing to reassurance and then to the item’s importance without clear breaks. Connectors such as “so” and “but” are used, but they do not consistently clarify the relationships between ideas. Use separate paragraphs for the damage, its significance, and your request, and make each sentence express one main point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some vocabulary relevant to the situation, including “broken possession,” “grand mother,” “pay,” and “fix it,” so the basic topic is understandable. However, the range is limited and several choices or spellings make the message harder to interpret, such as “overthink,” “throught it in gargabe,” and “what we do next ot its look like same as before.” Some expressions are also unnatural for a friendly letter, including “I just want to say something about” and “help me about.” Choose more precise words for the object and its damage, and use natural repair-related phrases. Careful proofreading of spelling and word forms would make your meaning clearer and give the letter a more fluent, appropriate tone.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt to communicate several connected ideas and use some longer sentence forms, but the structures are often difficult to control. For example, “Hope you are doing well and be happy” has an incomplete and inconsistent verb pattern, while “I think may you fell bad” has problems with word order and verb form. The long sentence beginning “But ia mot saying to pay” combines several clauses without clear punctuation, making the request hard to follow. There is little evidence of consistently accurate sentence construction, and errors in articles, tense, and clause structure recur. Practise writing shorter complete sentences first, then combine ideas using accurate conjunctions and punctuation.

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

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