Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-24

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 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am Siddharth, a recent customer at your electronic store. This is to inform you that the headsets that I bought from your store are not working properly.

The sound cracks when attending my office meetings through these headsets. In just a few days of my purchase the wire has started to wear off from the middle where the volume is controlled.

During my office meetings, the sound stops completely sometimes, which is affecting my performance at work. As it is a tele-caller job, headsets are keen to the tasks that I perform.

I would really appreciate if your store could either provide me with a replacement or refund me the amount that I paid for these headsets. I would also appreciate if you could suggest me any better quality product looking at the tasks that I have to perform.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

With Regards

Siddharth Anand

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The letter successfully addresses all three bullet points in the prompt. You clearly described the technical issues with the headset, explained the negative impact on your tele-caller role, and provided a clear request for a resolution (replacement or refund). The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint letter. To reach a higher band, you could provide slightly more detail regarding the specific date of purchase or the model of the headset to make the request more professional and realistic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is well-organized with a logical progression of ideas. Each paragraph focuses on a specific aspect of the task, which makes the letter easy to follow. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'During my office meetings' and 'As it is a tele-caller job' to link your ideas. To improve, you could incorporate a wider range of cohesive devices (e.g., 'consequently', 'furthermore', or 'in light of this') to improve the flow between sentences and paragraphs, moving beyond simple sentence-to-sentence transitions.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task. Phrases like 'wear off' and 'sound cracks' effectively communicate the problem. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in collocation. For example, saying headsets are 'keen to the tasks' is unnatural; 'essential for' or 'integral to' would be more precise. Additionally, 'suggest me any better quality product' should be 'suggest a better quality product to me'. Expanding your vocabulary to include more precise professional terminology would enhance your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, and your meaning is consistently clear. There are a few minor grammatical slips, such as 'In just a few days of my purchase' (should be 'within a few days of my purchase') and 'suggest me any' (should be 'suggest any'). Punctuation is generally accurate, and the letter follows a standard formal structure. To achieve a higher band, aim for more varied complex sentence structures and ensure that prepositions and object pronouns are used with greater precision.

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

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