Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently organised an all-day meeting for your company, which took place in a local hotel. In their feedback, participants at the meeting said that they liked the hotel, but they were unhappy about the food that was served for lunch.

Write a letter to the manager of the hotel. In your letter

• say what the participants liked about the hotel
• explain why they were unhappy about the food
• suggest what the manager should do to improve the food in future

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Manager,

I hope you are doing well.

Last week, we booked your hotel for my company meeting because you are huge popular in that area. This hotel are We were meeting at you hotel for my company meeting. That we were lots of about your company. Our employees liked so much you hotel, specially, you view point was amazing.

However, we asked about review about your whole day meeting, majority, participants were not satisfied with lunch. we had negative experience about your food. We could ordered 90 person food at that time but that were not prepared well and due to lack of food that cannot eat properly.

We spoiled our event at last. You need to maintain test quality during huge event in your hotel. Also, serve food as much as possible fast, main a hugein during your food served.

Thank you for your time, I hope you should improve your food.

Best Regards,

Meet Panchal

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The letter covers all three bullet points: the positive aspects of the hotel, the issues with the lunch, and suggestions for improvement. However, the development of these points is hampered by unclear phrasing. For example, the explanation of why the food was unsatisfactory ('due to lack of food that cannot eat properly') is confusing and fails to clearly communicate the specific nature of the problem. While the task is addressed, the lack of clarity in expressing ideas prevents the response from reaching a higher band. The tone is also somewhat inconsistent for a formal letter of complaint.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is organised into paragraphs, which is a positive step. However, the progression of ideas is often disjointed. The use of cohesive devices is limited and sometimes inaccurate, such as the abrupt transition in the second paragraph ('majority, participants were not satisfied'). Referencing is occasionally unclear, making it difficult for the reader to follow the intended meaning. While the overall structure is present, the lack of smooth transitions and the mechanical nature of the linking words limit the coherence of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is quite limited and repetitive. There are several instances of awkward word choice and incorrect collocations, such as 'huge popular' instead of 'highly popular' and 'view point' instead of 'view'. The phrase 'main a hugein' is unintelligible, which significantly impacts the reader's ability to understand the suggestion. To improve, you should focus on using more precise adjectives and verbs to describe your experience and avoid relying on basic, incorrectly used vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('This hotel are', 'That we were lots of'), tense inconsistencies, and sentence fragments. Many sentences are poorly constructed, which makes the meaning difficult to grasp at times. While there is an attempt to use a variety of sentence structures, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar significantly impedes communication. Focusing on sentence structure and proofreading for basic agreement and tense errors would greatly improve your score.

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

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