Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-19

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently booked a part-time course at a college. You now need to cancel your booking.

Write a letter to the college administrator. In your letter:

• say which part-time course you booked
• explain why you need to cancel your booking
• ask about booking a different course

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 4.5)

Dear Sir,

I was recently stayed at sunrise hotel for 3 days with one of my friend. We checked in on Friday and checked out on Sunday evening. We booked your hotel room because of the high rating, however, during our stay we faced some difficulties which I want to complaint. Firstly, when we entered, the room was not cleaned properly. There was dust on the counter tops as well as LED, even the garbage of previous client was still in the bin. Apart from this, there was no supply of hot water due to which I called your staff. Instead of listening, he started misbehaving with us which really pissed me off.

After this happening, I would like my partially refund because the hotel experience was not that kind which we were expected. Moreover, you should try to train your staff well. Try to clean the room properly and garbage should change before checked in of new customer. Furthermore, it is your responsibility to check the service of hotel regarding hot water or something else and teach your staff to be polite with others.

Thanking you,

Kind regards,

John.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 2.0

The response is completely off-topic. The prompt explicitly asks to write a letter to a college administrator to cancel a part-time course booking. However, the student has written a complaint letter to a hotel manager regarding a stay at a hotel. Because the student failed to address any of the bullet points (course name, reason for cancellation, inquiry about a different course), the task achievement is severely compromised. Even though the letter format is followed, the content does not fulfill the requirements of the task at all.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter is organised into paragraphs, and there is a basic attempt at logical flow within the context of a complaint letter. However, because the content is entirely irrelevant to the prompt, the coherence is undermined by the failure to address the task. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Apart from this', and 'Furthermore' are used to link ideas, but they serve a narrative that does not belong to the assigned task. The paragraphing is acceptable for a formal letter structure.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is sufficient to express the complaint about the hotel, using terms like 'counter tops', 'misbehaving', and 'partially refund'. However, the range is limited and there are errors in collocation and word choice, such as 'garbage should change' instead of 'should be changed' and 'checked in of new customer' instead of 'check-in of new customers'. The vocabulary is not relevant to the academic or administrative context required by the prompt.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'I was recently stayed' (incorrect passive/tense), 'one of my friend' (should be 'friends'), and 'the hotel experience was not that kind which we were expected' (awkward phrasing). While the meaning is generally understandable, the control of complex structures is weak, and the errors are persistent. The sentence structures are mostly simple or contain basic errors in verb tense and agreement.

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

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