Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-17

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 or Madam,

My name is Ashley and I would like to write a email about the laptop I purchased last week have problem.

First of all, I bought laptop last Sunday from your shop; it comes with headset and charger. Everything was working perfectly till Tuesday. On Wednesday, I was working from home and when i put laptop on charging, its charger doesnot work. i tried thrice plug it off and then on but it still doesnot work.

Secondly, because of charging i could gave my presentation in the meeting and it was very important for my company and on the behalf of this, there was great chance of my promotion. Due to the trouble I think i missed my promotion this year.

Finally, I want you to replace my laptop charger within two days because i have another meeting

from home. I understand it is your peek season of selling electronic equipments and according to the warranty, replacement of any equipments will take at least one month.

I requested you to replace it as soon as possible.

Looking forward for positive response.

Regards

Smith

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address all three required points: you identify the faulty charger, explain that the problem disrupted an important work presentation, and request a replacement within two days. The details about buying the laptop last Sunday and trying to reconnect the charger make the complaint relevant. However, the effect on your work is less fully explained: “I could gave my presentation” is unclear, and the claim that you may have missed a promotion is not connected in detail to the equipment failure. The requested action is clear, but the reference to the warranty and the company’s busy season makes the request somewhat confusing. Explain the work impact precisely and state your preferred remedy and deadline more directly to develop the letter more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a clear overall sequence: you introduce the purchase and fault, describe the work consequences, and finish with a request. Paragraphing and signposts such as “First of all,” “Secondly,” and “Finally” help the reader follow these stages. However, these transitions feel somewhat mechanical, and some links between ideas are unclear. For example, “because of charging i could gave my presentation” does not clearly show whether the laptop lost power or the presentation was missed, while the warranty sentence interrupts the request rather than supporting it smoothly. The closing is appropriate, but the letter would progress more naturally with clearer links between the fault, its consequences, and the remedy, and with a separate paragraph for each main purpose.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough task-related vocabulary to communicate the complaint, including “charger,” “working from home,” “meeting,” “warranty,” and “replace.” The reader can understand the main problem and the action you want. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “write a email about,” “on the behalf of this,” “peek season,” and “positive response.” “Could gave” also reflects a word-form problem. These choices sometimes make the message less precise or less professional, even though the overall meaning remains understandable. Aim for standard complaint-letter expressions and check spelling and collocations; for example, say “peak season” and “I look forward to your response.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentence forms, including the explanation of what happened after you connected the laptop to the charger and the sentence about the warranty. The main events are generally understandable, but grammatical errors occur across the letter. Examples include “I purchased last week have problem,” “when i put laptop on charging,” and “I could gave my presentation”; these involve missing articles or subjects, verb forms, and sentence construction. There are also inconsistent capitalisation and punctuation, such as lowercase “i” and the unfinished final request sentence. These errors sometimes make the reader work to interpret details. Practise building accurate complete sentences, especially when describing past events, and proofread articles, verb forms, and sentence boundaries.

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

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