Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-13

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 this lettter to give you advice about how recepition area could be improved.Firstly, I got so many complaints from customers about reception area . It is not fully furnished so most of customers are facing problems while sitting.Secondly, it is not fully organised.Reception area is very important because most of customers are waiting there for their turn . These is also some effects on customrs how it looks .So, there is need to improve this area. I think we have to expand it in some way beacuse it covers small space.Sometime customers are waiting at outside . Instead of it, there is need to organise properly like having same colour furniture as well as walls and also buying some new furnitur for it .I hope you understand and reconstruted as soon as possible because it is main entry of our office .

Thank you

Your's faithfully ,

Arshdeep Kaur.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response covers all three bullet points from the prompt, although some ideas are rather simple and repetitive. You successfully describe the complaints regarding the lack of furniture and poor organisation, explain why the reception area is important as a waiting space and the main entry of the office, and suggest improvements such as expanding the space and matching furniture colours. While the development of ideas is somewhat limited and lacks specific detail, all requirements of the task are addressed adequately. Your tone is generally appropriate for a letter to a manager. This performance fits well within the Band 6 descriptor, where all parts of the task are addressed, but some points could be more fully developed and extended.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter demonstrates a basic logical organisation, moving from the statement of purpose and complaints to the importance of the area, and finally to suggestions for improvement. You use transitional markers like 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'So' to guide the reader through your points. However, the paragraphing is largely absent, with almost the entire letter clumped into a single block of text, which affects readability and visual structure. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the phrase 'These is also some effects on customrs how it looks'. Because paragraphing is insufficient and cohesive devices are somewhat mechanical, this places the response at Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing you to communicate your message about office furniture and complaints. You attempt some less common vocabulary items, such as 'fully furnished', 'reconstructed', and 'organise properly'. However, there are notable spelling errors throughout the text, including 'lettter', 'recepition', 'customrs', 'beacuse', 'at outside', and 'reconstruted'. Word choice is also occasionally unnatural, as seen in 'Some time customers are waiting at outside'. These errors cause some distraction for the reader but do not completely impede overall communication, aligning the vocabulary profile with Band 5.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You demonstrate an attempt at a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'I am writing this lettter to give you advice about how recepition area could be improved' and 'Instead of it, there is need to organise properly like having same colour furniture'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with missing articles ('how recepition area could be improved', 'covers small space', 'waiting at outside'), subject-verb agreement issues ('These is also some effects'), and punctuation spacing errors. Complex structures often contain faults. Because errors are frequent and noticeable throughout the short text, the grammatical range and accuracy are best evaluated at Band 5.0.

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

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