Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-22

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 5.0)

Dear sir,I am Navjot kaur from HR company.We were organized a meeting in your hotel.The hotel is very fantastic and beautiful. All the employes like the hotel.The interior of hotel also very amazing. I also like the painting that is hanging on the wall.Overall the hotel was very good ,but honestly my whole staff does not like the food.We all are very disappointed because of food ,the food is not good in your hotel .All the employes are unhappy to eat the food from your hotel.Because of your hotel's food all the workers are very sad because all very excited. My personal experience was not good about your hotel because ,I was ordered the red chilli pasta for myself but the was not good because too much salt in the pasta .I was not finished my pasta.So ,I suggest please improve your food quality because your hotel was too good but food quality is too low. I think you should change your chef. I Hope you will noticed my advice about your hotel .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all three bullet points of the task: mentioning the positive aspects of the hotel, explaining the dissatisfaction with the food, and suggesting improvements. However, the development of these ideas is quite repetitive and lacks the professional tone required for a formal letter. While the content is relevant, the explanation of why the food was poor is somewhat simplistic, relying on repetitive phrasing like 'not good' and 'very sad'. To improve, you should aim to provide more specific details about the catering service and use a more formal, objective tone suitable for a business communication.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter lacks proper paragraphing, which is essential for a formal letter. The ideas are presented in a single block, making it difficult to follow the logical progression from the positive feedback to the complaint and the final suggestions. While there are some basic cohesive devices used, such as 'Overall' and 'So', they are used mechanically. The flow between sentences is often disjointed, and the lack of clear paragraph breaks significantly impacts the readability and structure of the response. Using clear paragraphs for each section of the prompt would greatly improve the coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is quite limited and repetitive. You frequently use basic adjectives like 'good', 'very', and 'amazing' to describe the hotel and the food. There is a lack of variety in your word choice, which prevents you from expressing your points with precision. For example, instead of saying 'the food is not good', you could use more descriptive terms like 'unpalatable', 'disappointing', or 'lacked quality'. Additionally, there are some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'We were organized a meeting' instead of 'We organized a meeting' or 'We held a meeting'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow of communication. There are consistent issues with verb tenses and sentence structure, such as 'We were organized a meeting' (passive voice error) and 'the was not good' (missing subject). Punctuation is also problematic, with several instances of missing spaces after commas and periods. While you attempt some complex ideas, the underlying grammar is often faulty. To reach a higher band, you need to focus on subject-verb agreement, correct tense usage, and ensuring that your sentences are punctuated correctly to maintain a professional standard.

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

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