Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-05

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 am writing this letter to compalin about piece of equipment that is printer and I purchased it from your shop.

Actually, it is not work properly for about 2-3 weeks. I also, use it for my office work for printing some documents. At that time, it was jam and do not printing out because of it I faced many difficulties and I go outside for printing my documents.

Becouse of it I become a late to complete my task on time and sometimes, my boss angry on me because of it. Also, I do not share my woek with other employee.

I would suggest that, you should check it properly and also, i would think you could replace me it, if it is not repair properly.

I hope you will cosider my problem and solve it. I look forward you prompt response as sson as possible.

Yours faithfully,

Miral Ahir.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task as outlined in the prompt. You successfully describe the problem with the printer, explain how it affects your work by causing delays and issues with your boss, and state what you want the shop to do by suggesting they check and replace it. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. For instance, the explanation of the impact on your work is slightly repetitive, mentioning that you become late and that your boss gets angry, without extending these points further. To reach a higher level, you should ensure all bullet points are elaborated with greater detail and clarity, moving beyond basic statements to fully flesh out your ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement and follows a clear, logical structure appropriate for a formal complaint. You use standard conventions such as an appropriate opening and closing, and divide your points into logical paragraphs. However, cohesion can sometimes feel mechanical or faulty. For example, transitional phrases like 'Becouse of it' and 'Also' are overused to connect sentences, and referencing is not always clear, making the progression between ideas slightly disjointed. To improve, you should employ a wider variety of cohesive devices more naturally and ensure that your referencing links back clearly to previous clauses without relying on repetitive connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, providing enough range to communicate your basic message about the broken printer. You attempt to use some less common vocabulary items, but there are noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and spelling that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. For instance, spelling 'compalin' instead of 'complain', using 'work' instead of 'working' in phrases like 'not work properly', and writing 'woek' instead of 'work' detract from the precision of the letter. Additionally, phrases like 'replace me it' demonstrate unnatural collocation and word order. To achieve a higher score, you need to expand your lexical range and reduce spelling and word-choice errors by proofreading carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and subordinate clauses. However, there are some errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text. Examples include tense and verb form issues like 'it was jam and do not printing out', subject-verb agreement errors such as 'my boss angry on me', and prepositional inaccuracies like 'response as sson as possible'. Although these errors occur, they rarely impede overall communication. To move up to a higher band, you need to demonstrate better control over complex sentence structures, ensure accurate verb tenses, and eliminate frequent grammatical slips.

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

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