Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-18

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Sir,

I am writing you this letter regarding the flight that I missed due to the reason beyond my control.

Last week, I had a business meeting in Surrey, and I booked my flight from Waterloo airport. Unfortunately, when I reached to the airport they advised me to wait there for 3 hours due to technical emergency at the aircraft.Consequently, I missed my meeting which was very crucial for my company.

This inconvenience from the airline not only cost me the money but also wasted my time. I am very disapointed from the behaviour of the staff as well because they are rude and sound unprofessional when i asked them about the reasons of the flight delay.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to write a letter regarding a missed flight due to reasons beyond their control. However, the response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, containing only 118 words. Consequently, the purpose is not fully developed, and key details such as the desired outcome or specific compensation are omitted. The tone is somewhat established, but the under-length nature of the response significantly impacts the overall task achievement, limiting the score to a 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter follows a basic logical structure, beginning with a standard salutation and moving into the context of the missed flight. Paragraphing is attempted, separating the introduction from the body details and the conclusion. However, cohesive devices are somewhat mechanical and repetitive (e.g., 'Unfortunately', 'Consequently'), and the referencing is occasionally weak. While the overall arrangement is coherent, the briefness of the text restricts the demonstration of skilled organizational control, resulting in a band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common phrases such as 'technical emergency' and 'crucial for my company'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'reason beyond my control' instead of 'reasons', 'reached to the airport' instead of 'reached the airport', and 'disapointed from the behaviour' instead of 'disappointed with the behavior'. Spelling also contains an error ('disapointed'). These issues place the lexical control at a band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as the relative clause in 'my meeting which was very crucial' and the adverbial clause in 'when I reached to the airport'. However, there are persistent grammatical errors, including preposition misuse ('reached to', 'disapointed from') and article omission. Despite these errors, communication is rarely impeded, and the majority of simple structures are accurate, justifying a band 6.0.

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

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