Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-03
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)
good morning
IAM WRITING THIS LETTER TO SHARE MY EXPERIENCE REGARDING OUR LAST MEETING THAT TOOK PLACE IN YOUR HOTEL ON SATURDATY.
YOUR HOTEL IS WELL ORGANISED AND THE STAFF MEMBERS ARE REALLY NICE AND HELPFUL. THE ROOM WHERE MEETING TOOK PLACE IS ORGANISED VERY WELL LIKE AIR CONDITIONER, FURTINURE WAS VERY COMFORTABLE WE DID NOT FACE ANY DIFFICULTY DURING OUR MEETING.
UNFORTUNATELY, THE FOOD SERVICE IS VERY DISAPPOINTED, NOBODY LIKE THE FOOD BECAUSE IT WAS NOT FRESH AND ITS TOO OILY. SECONDLY THE FOOD QUANTITY IS VERY SMALL ITS NOT ENOUGH FOR FOUR PEOPLE.
I WANT TO ADVICE YOU TO IMPROVE THE FOOD QUALITY AS WELL AS QUANTITY BECAUSE EVERYBODY WANTS FRESH FOOD AFTER WORKING LONG HOURS. I THINK GREAT FOOD SERVICE IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR YOUR HOTEL REPUTITION. HOPE YOU WILL WORK ON IT SO NEXT TIME I WILL SATISFY FROM YOUR FOOD SERVICE .
REGARDS
MANPREET AKUR
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The letter covers all three bullet points required by the prompt: it mentions the positive aspects of the hotel, explains the dissatisfaction with the food, and offers suggestions for improvement. However, the tone is inconsistent with a formal letter of complaint, and the development of ideas is somewhat basic. For instance, the explanation regarding the food quality could be more detailed to better reflect the 'all-day meeting' context. While the task is addressed, the lack of a formal register and the brevity of the suggestions prevent 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 very limited. There is a lack of linking words or transition phrases to connect ideas smoothly (e.g., 'Secondly' is used, but other transitions are missing). The opening 'good morning' is inappropriate for a formal letter to a manager. The progression of ideas is logical, but the overall flow is somewhat mechanical due to the repetitive sentence structures and the absence of varied cohesive devices.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the message but remains quite basic and repetitive. Words like 'nice', 'good', and 'very' are used frequently, which limits the range. There are also some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'food service is very disappointed' (should be 'disappointing') and 'I will satisfy from your food service' (should be 'I will be satisfied with'). To improve, you should aim for more precise adjectives and formal collocations suitable for a business complaint.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writing consists mostly of simple sentences. There are frequent grammatical errors, including issues with subject-verb agreement ('food quantity is very small'), incorrect verb forms ('nobody like the food'), and punctuation errors (the entire text is in capital letters, which is inappropriate). While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of complex structures and the high frequency of basic grammatical errors limit the score. You need to focus on sentence variety and proofreading for basic tense and agreement mistakes.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.