Band 8.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 8.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-16

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 8.0)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I was a customer in room 220 at your hotel last week. I had worked remotely while I resided at the hotel. While working, I left behind some papers in the top drawer under the television. These papers are arranged by different colors including red, yellow and blue.

These papers are very important as they are company documents for the development of the west wing building project for Chevron Oil Producing Company. The red document contain building structures along with engineering specifications. The yellow document is a presentation addressed to the management team while the blue document consists of financial records of the project.

I would appreciate your support in holding these papers for me till the end of the day, after which I will pick them up on my way back from work. Please do not mix the paper with each other as they should be separated by the colors.

Yours truthfully,

Gideon Njoku

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 8.5

The letter covers all three required points clearly and gives the manager practical details for locating and handling the papers. You identify the likely location as “the top drawer under the television,” explain their importance as company documents for a named building project, and request that they be kept until you can collect them. The colour-by-colour description adds useful detail and supports the request not to mix them. The purpose and tone are appropriate for a formal enquiry. To make the response even more complete, clarify whether room 220 was the room you stayed in or the room where the meeting took place, and specify how the manager can contact you if the papers are not found or collection arrangements change. These are minor refinements to an otherwise well-developed response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 8.0

The information is arranged in a clear, purposeful sequence: you establish your stay, describe where the papers were left, explain their contents, and finish with the action you want the manager to take. The separate paragraphs make the letter easy to follow, and links such as “While working” and “after which” help show the relationships between events. The colour references also provide a consistent thread through the explanation. Cohesion is generally well managed, though the first paragraph could connect the hotel stay and the meeting more explicitly, since the task concerns a meeting. A brief closing sentence offering contact details or thanking the manager would also make the final request feel more fully rounded.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

You use a sufficient range of vocabulary to describe the papers and their business purpose, including “engineering specifications,” “presentation,” and “financial records.” The specific project and company details make the explanation precise, while “I would appreciate your support” maintains a suitably polite tone. Some choices are less natural or precise in this context: “I was a customer in room 220” would usually be expressed as “I stayed in room 220,” and “holding these papers” is less idiomatic than “keeping these papers safe.” “The papers are arranged by different colors” is also awkward when describing separate documents. Refining these collocations and choosing more natural formal expressions would increase flexibility and precision while preserving the clear meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.5

The letter includes a useful mix of simple and more developed structures, such as “These papers are very important as they are company documents…” and the final request with “after which I will pick them up.” Most sentences communicate their meaning clearly, and the past and future forms are generally controlled. A few errors remain: “The red document contain” needs subject–verb agreement (“contains”), and “the blue document consists” does not match the plural subject “papers” if you are referring to the documents collectively. In “Please do not mix the paper with each other,” the plural form and pronoun structure need correction (“papers with one another”). These are noticeable but do not prevent understanding. Check agreement and number carefully, especially when moving between “papers” and individual documents.

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

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