Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-04
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 4.5)
Dear sir,
I am writing this letter to inform you about my documents which I left in your hotel yesterday.
On Aug 30, I stayed in your hotel with my friends. We were three friends. We stayed here for two days On Sep 2, at 11:30 am we checked out but unfortunately I forgot my file at the reception desk. It has a brown leather cover. It has my passport my credit card and my wallet.I urgently need all my stuff by tomorrow morning because I have my flight.
I am requesting you please keep them in a safe place. My friend will come to collect all those documents. His name is Aditya. Please give my file to him.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Jashanpreet Kaur
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 3.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0
The response is completely off-topic. The task required you to write a letter to a hotel manager regarding feedback about a company meeting, specifically addressing the hotel's facilities and the poor quality of the lunch provided. Instead, you wrote a letter about lost personal items (a passport and wallet). Because you failed to address any of the bullet points provided in the prompt and did not follow the instructions regarding the content of the letter, this response fails to meet the requirements of the task. Additionally, the response is under the minimum word count requirement.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The letter is structured with a salutation, body paragraphs, and a closing, which provides a basic framework. However, the progression of ideas is limited by the fact that the content is irrelevant to the prompt. There is some use of cohesive devices such as 'but unfortunately' and 'because', but the overall logical flow is hampered by the lack of relevance to the task instructions. Paragraphing is present but could be more effectively used to separate the different points of the letter.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, such as 'stayed', 'hotel', and 'documents'. While the language is sufficient to communicate the message about the lost items, it lacks the range and precision required for a higher band score. There is no attempt to use less common or more sophisticated vocabulary that would be appropriate for a formal letter to a manager. The language is functional but very limited in scope.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response consists mainly of simple sentences. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'It has my passport my credit card and my wallet' (missing punctuation/conjunctions) and 'I am requesting you please keep them' (awkward phrasing). While the meaning is generally clear, the range of structures is very limited, and there is a lack of complex sentence forms. Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly in the list of items.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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