Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-01

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 manager,

I hope you are doing well . I am writing a letter to complain about reception area where last week visitors were reached.Everyone stand up from long time there because there is no any facility for seating .Moreover ,reception area is very small and people also feel hot because there is no air conditioner.

I would say that reception area is very significantly since this is a place where people can do any kind of meeting regarding something .Sometimes if have any kind of issue then they can solve to sit together .

I would suggest you that how you can reception area improved .First of all ,the size of reception area will be increased .Apart from this , there is need to add some facilities such as chairs ,air conditioner.

I hope that you will give attention of this issue .

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

yours sincerely,

kamalpreet kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all three bullet points of the prompt: describing complaints, explaining the importance of the area, and suggesting improvements. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the explanation of why the reception area is important is vague, stating only that it is a place for 'any kind of meeting'. The suggestions for improvement are also quite basic. To reach a higher band, you should provide more specific details or examples to flesh out your ideas, such as explaining how a better reception area would improve the company's professional image or client satisfaction.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure of the request. You use some basic cohesive devices like 'Moreover', 'First of all', and 'Apart from this' to link your ideas. However, the flow between sentences is occasionally mechanical, and some transitions feel slightly forced. The referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the phrase 'if have any kind of issue', where the subject is missing. Improving the variety of your linking words and ensuring that every sentence clearly connects to the previous one will help improve the overall flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to communicate your message clearly. You use some relevant topic-specific vocabulary such as 'reception area', 'facilities', and 'visitors'. However, the range is limited, and there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'visitors were reached' instead of 'visitors arrived' and 'do any kind of meeting' instead of 'hold meetings'. To improve, try to incorporate more precise verbs and adjectives to describe the situation, and focus on using words in their correct collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with articles ('the reception area'), verb tense consistency ('visitors were reached'), and missing subjects ('if have any kind of issue'). Additionally, there are punctuation errors, such as missing spaces after commas and periods. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to be noticeable. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement will significantly improve your accuracy.

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

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