Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-10

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 6.5)

Dear Sir,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to express my concerns regarding food service at your hotel which we had during our last company's all-day meeting.

To begin with, I would like to appreciate the service that your staff offered us all day during our meeting. The attendees loved the arrangements made by concierge to escort them to the meeting hall. Especially, the ambiance of the hotel was very classical and was loved by all.

However, there was some inconvenience while having lunch, because of the lack of management. There were very few servers available than needed. Moreover, some dishes were cold and soggy. Despite having great concierge service, poor food quality was quite surprising for all of us. There was a quantity issue as well. There was shortage of cake after the lunch. Overall it was a bad dinning experience for all of us.

Although we were unhappy about the food continues drinks and snacks saved our day. I would also like to suggest few thing for you to improve for future guests. Make sure the food is prepared no longer than the lunch time and some dishes that are served crispy, are made during the lunch time. Furthermore, i noticed you have rush in your restaurant during eating hours, so you also need to increase the number of servers.

Overall, we had a good time in you hotel during the meeting.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response successfully addresses all three bullet points of the prompt. You clearly identified the positive aspects of the hotel, explained the issues with the food, and provided actionable suggestions for improvement. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter of complaint. To reach a higher band, ensure that the explanation of the food issues is more specific; for example, you mentioned 'quantity issues' and 'cold food', which are good, but providing a slightly more detailed account of the impact on the meeting would further develop your ideas. Overall, the task requirements are fully met.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use some cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'However', and 'Furthermore' to guide the reader. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and the paragraphing could be more refined. For instance, the transition between the positive aspects and the complaints is clear, but the final paragraph feels a bit disconnected from the previous suggestions. Improving the flow between sentences within paragraphs would help achieve a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'ambiance', 'concierge', and 'soggy'. There are some minor errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'continues drinks' (should be 'continuous') and 'there was a rush in your restaurant' (which is slightly unnatural). While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your message clearly, it lacks the precision and flexibility required for higher bands. Focusing on more sophisticated collocations and ensuring accurate word forms will improve your lexical score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'there were very few servers available than needed' (should be 'fewer... than were needed') and 'I would also like to suggest few thing' (should be 'a few things'). Additionally, there are minor punctuation and capitalization errors, such as the lowercase 'i' in the final paragraph. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Increasing your control over complex sentence structures and proofreading for minor slips would be beneficial.

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

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