Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-17
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
Write a letter to the manager of the hotel. In your letter
- say where you think you left the papers
- explain why they are so important
- tell the manager what you want him/her 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 inform you that i am left my papers in your hotel room.
I visited your hotel 2 days ago with my friend to celebrate my friend birthday, we were celebrsting whole night and enjoy and we take some alchol, then i forgot where i kept my that papers in black bag . Next morning i forgot to pick that paper withme.
Now when i need that papers now i have not with me. they are very important for me because it was dealing paper of my client i have whole personal data of my clients and some of bank cheques.
Moreover, i want that can you find the paper in room no 218, i think it was in cupboard. my friend working at your hotel in kitchen his name is kamal can you handover all my paper to him .
Your faithfully ,
Arwinder singh
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The candidate successfully covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions. The letter states where the papers were likely left, specifically 'in room no 218 ... in cupboard' inside a black bag. It clearly explains why they are important by mentioning that they are 'dealing paper of my client' containing 'whole personal data of my clients and some of bank cheques.' Finally, it tells the manager what action to take, asking to find the papers and hand them over to a friend named Kamal who works in the hotel kitchen. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter to a manager despite numerous surface errors. All parts are addressed adequately, placing this response firmly at Band 6.0 according to the descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The letter exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a clear purpose established in the opening sentence. However, paragraphing is somewhat weak; the body of the letter crams multiple ideas into a single dense paragraph that covers the celebration, forgetting the bag, the importance of the documents, and the request to the manager. Logical progression is occasionally disrupted by run-on sentences and a lack of proper cohesive devices (for instance, sentences are strung together with commas rather than conjunctions or full stops, as seen in 'we were celebrsting whole night and enjoy and we take some alchol, then i forgot...'). Paragraphing and referencing could be managed more skilfully, leading to a Band 5.5 score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but the range is limited and repetition is common, as seen with the repeated use of 'papers' and 'forgot'. There are noticeable word choice errors and awkward collocations, such as 'i am left my papers' instead of 'I left my papers' and 'dealing paper' instead of 'business documents' or 'client contracts'. Spelling errors also occur, such as 'celebrsting' and 'alchol'. While these errors do not completely impede communication because the writer's meaning remains clear, they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and punctuation is weak. There are frequent errors, including tense and voice confusion ('i am left my papers', 'we take some alchol'), missing capitalization ('i', 'kamal', 'arwinder'), and comma splices ('Now when i need that papers now i have not with me. they are very important...'). These errors frequently cause difficulty for the reader and demonstrate a lack of reliable control over basic syntactic structures. Therefore, a Band 5.0 is appropriate for grammatical range and accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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