Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-17

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

There have been several complaints about the reception area where visitors to your company arrive. Your manager has asked you to suggest how the reception area could be improved.

Write a letter to your manager. In your letter

• describe the complaints that have been made
• say why the reception area is important
• suggest how the reception area could be improved

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ................. ,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Sir,

I am writing a letter to inform you that nowadays reception area receive plenty of complains due to lack of staff and more waiting time and have little space to sitting in waiting area.

From last few days company faced a enormous bad reviews about reception service and area. Firstly there have less space to sit in waiting area and have lack of staff so people stand long time to in queue.

Reception area is play crucial role because its main part of company everyone can judge company service from this area.

According to me company should hire more staff for flexible service and enhance waiting area and arrange more chairs for people who can sit there and wait for their appointment . Apart from that install a led to people can watch and arrange some magazine for reading lovers. Thank you for understanding. I am looking forward from you.

Your faithfully,

kiran

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter covers all three bullet points: describing complaints, explaining the importance of the reception, and suggesting improvements. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the suggestions regarding the LED screen and magazines are brief. The tone is generally appropriate for a formal letter to a manager, although the opening is slightly awkward. To improve, you should expand on your ideas with more detail or examples to ensure the response feels fully developed rather than just a list of points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and limited. Phrases like 'From last few days' and 'According to me' are used to transition between ideas, but the flow between sentences could be smoother. Additionally, there are some issues with referencing, such as the unclear connection between the complaints and the specific suggestions. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring clear logical progression between sentences would help raise your score in this area.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to communicate your message, but there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors. For example, 'reception area receive plenty of complains' should be 'the reception area receives many complaints', and 'enormous bad reviews' is not a natural collocation. You also use 'reading lovers' instead of 'avid readers'. While your meaning is generally clear, the lack of precision and some grammatical errors in word form (e.g., 'complains' instead of 'complaints') indicate a need for more attention to standard English collocations and vocabulary usage.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and some attempted complex structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Issues include missing articles ('the' reception area), incorrect verb forms ('reception area is play'), and preposition errors ('stand long time to in queue'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with spacing and capitalization. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to distract the reader. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement, the correct use of articles, and ensuring that your sentence structures are grammatically sound.

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