Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-31

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

I am writing this letter about your hotel management. We had meeting in hotel which gone very well. All participants liked your hospitality.like your hotel staff is very cooperate and helpful.The bathrooms of your hotels are also clean and on of the main thing is that their is no noise disturbances by which we run meetings very smoothly.

But the participants were unhappy about the food.Because they were said that food is cold and not proper cooked.Afterwards when they complained about food to the food staff they behave rudely with my participants and one another you guys also less options for vegetarian food.

For future meeting I would suggest that you should have make eye on your cooking staff.

If you can hire new cooks it will very helpful for hotel because I also checked your hotel reviews all things are very good but you guys have bad reviews about cooking staff. So, if you guys can change your cooking staff then it will very good. Hope, you guys take note on this problem.

Your faithfully

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all three bullet points of the prompt. You successfully identified the positive aspects of the hotel (hospitality, cleanliness, quiet environment), explained the issues with the food (cold, poorly cooked, rude staff, lack of vegetarian options), and provided suggestions for improvement. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. To reach a higher band, ensure that your suggestions are more professional and detailed. For instance, instead of suggesting to 'make eye on your cooking staff,' you could propose a formal review of the catering department or a change in the menu planning process to better accommodate dietary requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite limited and sometimes mechanical. Phrases like 'Afterwards' and 'For future meeting' are used, but the transitions between sentences often feel abrupt. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the sentence 'one another you guys also less options,' which disrupts the flow of information. To improve, focus on using a wider variety of linking words (e.g., 'furthermore,' 'consequently,' 'in addition to this') to connect your ideas more fluidly and logically.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety expected at higher bands. You rely on informal or repetitive phrasing, such as 'you guys' and 'very good,' which is not appropriate for a formal letter of complaint. There are also some errors in word choice, such as 'not proper cooked' instead of 'not properly cooked' and 'make eye on' instead of 'keep an eye on.' To improve, try to incorporate more formal, topic-specific vocabulary related to hospitality and service management.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity, such as 'We had meeting in hotel which gone very well' (missing articles and incorrect verb tense) and 'Because they were said that food is cold' (incorrect passive voice usage). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing spaces after periods and incorrect capitalization. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction, specifically subject-verb agreement, the correct use of articles, and consistent verb tenses.

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

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