Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-07

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You work at home and have a problem with a piece of equipment that you use for your job.

Write a letter to the shop or company which supplied the equipment. In your letter

• describe the problem with the equipment
• explain how this problem is affecting your work
• say what you want the shop or company to do

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.0)

Dear Sir,

I am writing to complain about the poor quality of the headphones that i bought from your company a month ago.

Firstly i would like to describe the issues with the equipment. The headphones have a miserable audio quality. The voice is not only low, but also of a poor quality. As a result, I am not able to understand what the customer is saying most of the times. Additionally, the earphones have a poor connection. Despite my chair is next to the laptop table, I still loose the connection frequently.

These problems are affecting my job performance negatively. Due to my poor performance I have received negative feedbacks from the customers, resulting in poor employee standing in the company.

OPPO is a reputed company and such poor quality products are unacceptable from the company. It will not only break customer trust in the company but also affect the future growth. I would like to recommend to improve the quality of products. company should make necessary changes in techniques as well in the employees responsible for issues.

with regards,

Gagandeep Singh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter covers all three bullet points: describing the problem, explaining the impact on work, and stating the desired action. However, the tone is inconsistent. While the first half is a professional complaint, the final paragraph shifts into an inappropriate, aggressive critique of the company's internal management ('company should make necessary changes in techniques as well in the employees responsible'). This is not relevant to a standard customer service request and detracts from the professional purpose of the letter. To improve, focus strictly on the resolution of your specific issue rather than offering unsolicited advice on the company's internal operations.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, and the progression of ideas is generally clear. You use some cohesive devices like 'Firstly', 'Additionally', and 'As a result' to link sentences. However, the paragraphing is slightly unbalanced, and the transition between the complaint and the final paragraph is abrupt. The use of 'OPPO' appears suddenly without context, and the concluding advice feels disconnected from the initial request for a solution. Improving the flow between paragraphs and ensuring that every sentence serves the primary purpose of the letter would enhance the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your meaning, such as 'reputed company' and 'unacceptable'. However, there are some awkward collocations and word choices. For example, 'miserable audio quality' is not a standard collocation; 'poor' or 'substandard' would be more natural. You also use 'loose' instead of the verb 'lose'. While the vocabulary is adequate for the task, it lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. Focusing on more natural collocations and avoiding repetitive use of the word 'poor' would significantly improve your lexical score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The letter contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include 'the headphones that i bought' (capitalization), 'Despite my chair is next to' (incorrect use of 'despite' which requires a noun phrase or gerund), and 'as well in the employees' (missing preposition). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of lowercase 'i'. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your message, they occur frequently enough to limit the score. Focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of subordinating conjunctions.

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

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