Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-14

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 5.5)

Dear Sir,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing to inform you issue i face while using laptop. Last year I bought it from your company.

Overall it is working well when I just bought from your company. But now since a week I face many problems in laptop such as it is getting shutdown automatically, slow charging. I dont know any wire issue or somehing.

As now I am working in Trading Company in Canada. I have to email or messages them. Even sometime I have to attend meetings. Yesterday when i was in meeting and suddenly it shutdown. I was worried and upset. As you know it is expensive. Again it is automatically on and I lost many information.

In conclusion, I want to tell you if there is any cable or wire issue can you check ? If it needs to be replaced ? or repaired. I hope you will consider it positively.

Thank you,

Yours faithfully,

Rajandeep Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have successfully covered all three bullet points required in the task instructions. You described the problem with the laptop (shutting down automatically and slow charging), explained how this affects your work (causing you to lose information during important meetings for your trading company job in Canada), and stated what you want the company to do (check if it is a cable issue and replace or repair it). However, the tone and salutation are a bit inconsistent, as you started with 'Dear Sir,' and ended with 'Yours faithfully,' whereas standard convention is 'Dear Sir or Madam,' with 'Yours faithfully,' or 'Dear [Name],' with 'Yours sincerely,'. Additionally, some ideas like the impact on your work are slightly repetitive and under-developed, keeping this at a Band 6.0 level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter has a coherent overall arrangement, and you have made a clear attempt to structure the information into paragraphs. However, the paragraphing is a bit fragmented, with very short, single-sentence paragraphs that disrupt the natural flow of the letter. Cohesive devices are occasionally faulty or missing, and referencing is not always clear, such as when you write 'I dont know any wire issue or somehing.' Transitions between sentences could be smoother to enhance readability and logical progression. Paragraphing is used, but it is not entirely appropriate or well-managed, leading to a Band 5.5 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing you to explain the situation clearly. You attempt some less common vocabulary related to office work and equipment, such as 'automatically', 'replaced', and 'repaired'. However, there are noticeable limitations and word choice errors, such as 'issue i face while using laptop', 'working in Trading Company', and 'I lost many information' (information is uncountable). There are also spelling and punctuation slips, such as 'somehing'. These inaccuracies do not completely impede communication, but they restrict your lexical score to a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures in the conclusion ('if there is any cable or wire issue can you check ?'). However, your writing contains frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding verb tenses, articles, and sentence fragments. Examples include 'when I just bought from your company', 'since a week I face', 'it is getting shutdown', 'it is automatically on', and missing auxiliary verbs or incorrect prepositions. Punctuation is also erratic with spaces before punctuation marks. While the meaning remains mostly clear despite these errors, the density of mistakes places your grammar at a Band 5.0.

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

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