Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-17

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 6.5)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I visited your hotel 3 days ago; I stayed there for 2 nights and 3 days. I came with my laptop bag and a small luggage bag for my accessories. In my laptop bag, there are a few documents that I took out once because my lawyer wanted some information from them. But right now my documents are missing, so maybe I left them at your place. Can you please look in all the drawers, cupboards, and the locker? Moreover, those documents are very important to me; they are for my new house that I bought a few days ago. I think that you will definitely find my documents somewhere inside all I mentioned. So, can you please check and let me know? And I need that document very urgently; I need to get a signature from the buyer because he is leaving the country this week. So, if you don't find the papers by today, I still have some time to get the new ones.

Sincerely,

SP

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You address all three points clearly: you suggest the papers may be in the drawers, cupboards or locker, explain that they relate to your new house and a buyer’s signature, and ask the manager to search and contact you. The urgency is also conveyed through the buyer leaving the country this week. These details make the purpose of the letter clear and support the request. To make the response more fully developed, specify where you were during the hotel meeting or which room you used, rather than relying on a general list of possible storage places. You could also state more directly how the manager should contact you and what to do if the papers are found.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The information follows a generally sensible order: your stay and missing documents are introduced first, followed by their importance and your request. Linking expressions such as “Moreover” and “So” help connect the ideas, and the letter has an appropriate opening and closing. However, the response is presented as one long paragraph, so the explanation and request are not visually separated. Some connections also feel mechanical, particularly the repeated “So” and the sequence “I think that… So, can you please…”. Use two or three paragraphs and vary the transitions; clearer links between the search request, urgency and next steps would make the progression easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

Your vocabulary is adequate for explaining the situation, and terms such as “documents,” “lawyer,” “buyer” and “signature” communicate the relevant details. You also attempt more specific language by naming possible places where the papers might be stored. However, some choices are imprecise or repetitive: “small luggage bag for my accessories” is not a natural way to describe the bag, and “all I mentioned” is unclear. “Documents” and “papers” are repeated frequently, while “your place” is rather informal for a letter to a hotel manager. Aim for more precise collocations and a slightly more formal register, for example by referring to the hotel room or the lost property office.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and more complex forms, including the reason clause “because my lawyer wanted some information from them” and the conditional “if you don’t find the papers by today”. Most sentences remain understandable, and the sequence of events is clear. Some grammatical choices are less controlled, however. “I stayed there for 2 nights and 3 days” is awkwardly structured, and “there are a few documents” shifts into the present when describing what was in the bag. The final sentence also combines several ideas in a way that makes the timing less clear. Use past tense consistently for the stay and discovery, and divide longer sentences so each request or explanation has a clear grammatical structure.

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