Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-01
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 or Madam,
Subject :To the manager of the hotel regarding the food
Respected sir,
I am doing good hope for the same, recently, I arranged an meeting for my company at your hotel and after completing my meeting, I got a feedback from my participants that they like the hotel, interior, management, view, but they were unhappy about the food that was served for lunch, which was very disappointing for me the food quality, taste and quantity was not good it does not matches with their expectation, I would like to suggest you should change your chief or method of cooking or ingredients to improve the food quality, taste and reputation of your hotel, I also like to suggest you that you can add more options for dishes or items in the future, thank you hope you take my suggestion and work on it
Thank you, wishing a lot of success in future.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
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 lunch, and suggestions for improvement. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention the 'interior' and 'view' as positives, the explanation regarding the food is quite general, stating only that the 'quality, taste and quantity was not good.' To reach a higher band, you should provide more specific details about what was wrong with the meal (e.g., cold food, limited vegetarian options, or poor service). The tone is generally appropriate for a formal letter, though the opening and closing could be more professional.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The letter lacks clear paragraphing, which is essential for a formal letter. The entire body of the letter is written as a single, long, run-on sentence. This makes the text difficult to follow and impacts the logical flow of ideas. While you use some basic cohesive devices like 'recently' and 'I also like to suggest,' the lack of sentence boundaries and paragraph breaks means that the progression of ideas is not clearly managed. To improve, you must use full stops to separate distinct thoughts and divide the letter into clear paragraphs for the introduction, the body points, and the conclusion.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but remains quite basic. You use some relevant terms such as 'participants,' 'management,' and 'reputation,' which is good. However, there are some word choice errors, such as 'I am doing good' (which is informal and grammatically incorrect in this context) and 'change your chief' (where 'chef' is the correct spelling). The range of vocabulary is limited, and there is a reliance on simple, repetitive phrasing. To improve, try to incorporate more precise adjectives and professional collocations related to hospitality and service.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The letter suffers from significant punctuation issues, specifically the use of comma splices. The entire body of the letter is essentially one long sentence connected by commas, which is grammatically incorrect. There are also errors in subject-verb agreement, such as 'they like the hotel' (should be 'liked') and 'it does not matches' (should be 'match'). While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of sentence structure and frequent grammatical slips limit the score. You need to focus on using full stops to create distinct sentences and ensuring correct verb tense consistency throughout the letter.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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