Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-07

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 Sir / Madam,

In 2 days ago we organised a meeting for my company at your hotel. Company name is AP record LTD. I am writing to tell you about your hotel exprereance. It was nice but my participants said that food was not good as expected.

First of all my colleague and member who attend the meeting they were told that hotel is very nice and clean. Moreover we visited lots of hotel in previous meeting but in your hotel they most like is cleanlyness in washroom but many hotel they don not clean that part so it is very unsaticefation.

However, That one we can say that it should be improve that one is food qualities and quantity. We ordered 4 carry with full dish but that order it take too much time like around 1.30 hours we have to wait and also food qualities not as good and the quantity was too less .

I would say that if you want to improve the food you have to be proper manage every thing like if you know that certain time hotel is very busy you can call more staff at that time to serve good food to customer with timing and also if staff will increase they can help each other.

I hope to hear from you regarding this issue in your hotel,

Your Faithfully,

Ayush Prajapati

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter addresses all three bullet points of the prompt: the positive aspects of the hotel, the issues with the food, and suggestions for improvement. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited by the language used. The explanation of why the participants were unhappy is clear, but the tone is inconsistent for a formal letter of complaint. While the task requirements are met, the response lacks the professional polish expected for this type of correspondence, which prevents it from reaching a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate, such as 'However, That one we can say that it should be improve that one is food qualities'. The referencing is sometimes unclear, making it difficult to follow the flow of ideas. While there is an overall logical progression, the lack of sophisticated linking words and the repetitive nature of some sentences hinder the coherence of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is limited and includes several non-standard or misspelled words, such as 'exprereance', 'cleanlyness', 'unsaticefation', and 'carry' (likely meaning 'curry'). The range is sufficient to convey the basic message, but there is a lack of precision and variety. The student struggles with word choice and collocation, which occasionally forces the reader to infer the intended meaning. To improve, the student needs to focus on spelling and using more precise terminology related to hospitality and business meetings.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writing contains frequent grammatical errors, including issues with verb tense ('In 2 days ago'), subject-verb agreement ('member who attend... they were told'), and sentence structure ('many hotel they don not clean that part'). While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar and punctuation is distracting. The student relies mostly on simple sentence structures, and attempts at more complex sentences often result in errors that impede the flow of the text.

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

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