You are a university student in the UK and have recently lost your university ID card. Write to the local police station. In your letter: - give details of who you are - explain what happened - ask the police to record your details so that you can apply for a new ID card
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing this letter to report a lost identification cardreport on a lost identification card which was issued by my university. My name is Paul Jeremy, and I am a final-year postgraduate studentfinal year post-graduate student at the University of Manchester, majoring in Finance. As soon as I became aware that I diddo not have my student ID with me this morning, I immediately informed the university authoritiesauthority about it. In responseBut, in response, they asked me to report the incident to the local police. Of course, the local police authority would need to record some specific information about what I did yesterday or which places I visited, so I have provided those details belowI will go ahead and do just that. To begin with, yesterday, after finishing my classes, I went to Victoria Park for a while. After that, I went to the Curry Mile in order to eat some food before returning homebefore going back to my home on Denmark Road. For referenceBy the way, my ID card number is BK – 4982372 and it has my picture on it. So, based on these details above, please provide me with some necessary documents at your earliest convenience so that I can apply for another student ID. Yours faithfully, Paul Jeremy
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter establishes a clear formal purpose and provides specific personal, identification, and movement details that would help the police document the loss. Its main limitation is that the account is compressed into one paragraph and the final request asks for documents rather than directly asking the police to record the incident. The highest-priority improvement is to present the events chronologically and make the requested police action explicit in a focused closing paragraph.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All three bullet points are addressed with relevant detail and a suitably formal tone, although the final request only indirectly asks the police to record the loss.
Explicitly request an official loss report or reference number needed for the replacement university ID application.
Coherence and Cohesion
The information follows a broadly logical sequence from identity to recent movements and the request, but the single-paragraph format and conversational transitions weaken organisation.
Use separate paragraphs for personal details, the circumstances of the loss, and the requested police record.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficiently varied and formal for reporting a loss, though several phrases are awkward or imprecise.
Use natural expressions such as 'report a lost ID card', 'university administration', 'record the incident', and 'replacement card'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of sentence structures is used with generally good control, despite occasional tense inconsistency and unnecessary punctuation.
Keep past-time reporting consistent, for example 'I realised this morning that I did not have my student ID'.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You are a university student in the UK and have recently lost your university ID card. Write to the local police station. In your letter:
- give details of who you are
- explain what happened
- ask the police to record your details so that you can apply for a new ID card
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.