Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Recent IELTS Exams (Canada & India) · 2026-09-06

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently helped your company organise an event at a hotel. Write a letter to the hotel manager. In your letter:

– Provide details about the event
– Mention what you particularly liked about the hotel
– Suggest areas for improvement.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:
Dear Sir / Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing this letter about the business event we organized at your hotel.

The event was on 20th April 2026 at your holiday suite located at London downtown. The event begin with a CEO starting his speech at the lobby and couples of drinks provided. Furthermore, we had Q&A with the employees and with the Director and the CEO.

Firstly, the amenities you provided were excellent and the food was amazing too. Also, I liked the unique painting which were kept at the reception.

The only things I felt was not up to mark was the waiters . They were not very much trained and they messed up few food orders.

Your faithfully,

Shoeb.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The letter addresses all three bullet points: providing event details, mentioning positive aspects, and suggesting improvements. However, the response is significantly under the 150-word minimum requirement, which negatively impacts the development of ideas. The details provided are quite brief, and the suggestions for improvement lack depth. To improve, you should expand on the event description, provide more specific examples of what you liked, and offer more detailed constructive feedback regarding the service issues to ensure the letter is fully developed and meets the length requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter follows a logical structure, with clear paragraphs for each part of the prompt. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'Firstly', and 'Also' to link ideas. However, the connection between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the overall flow could be improved with more varied transition words. The paragraphing is appropriate for a formal letter, but the brevity of the content makes the progression feel somewhat abrupt. Increasing the length and adding more complex linking phrases would help improve the cohesion of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your message clearly. You use some relevant terms like 'amenities', 'reception', and 'business event'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'London downtown' (should be 'downtown London') and 'not very much trained' (should be 'poorly trained'). The range of vocabulary is somewhat limited and repetitive. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more precise adjectives and professional collocations related to event management and hospitality.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The letter contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text, such as 'The event begin' (should be 'began'), 'couples of drinks' (should be 'a couple of drinks'), and 'the unique painting which were kept' (should be 'the unique paintings which were kept'). Additionally, there are issues with article usage and subject-verb agreement. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to affect the overall accuracy of the writing.

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

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