Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-05

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,

I hope this letter find you well. I am writing this letter to express my unhappy experienece with your hotel. We have organised an event last week with your hotel . Which was meeting for whole day.

To begain, i would say your staff was at service all the time. I want to said that the conference romm was well organised. The projecter and sound system was working well there was no problem with it.

However, there was serval certain issue with food in lunch. Because we had all day meeting we book for lunch for all staff. Fristly the starter was not good the taste was poorly prepared. So, our company staff and other people who join as for meeting was not happy. Also there was dissappointing server when serving food many people was not attented.

For future i would suggest we can take book session for tasting the food. Before we book the any event with you and train the staff. I hope to book new booking with you soon.

Your faithfully,

Sweta Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all three bullet points of the task: the positive aspects of the hotel, the issues with the food, and suggestions for improvement. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the explanation of why the food was poor is vague, and the suggestion for a 'tasting session' could be more clearly articulated to show how it would solve the problem. While the task requirements are met, the response would benefit from more detailed explanations to fully satisfy the 'well-developed' criteria of higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. There is a logical progression from the positive feedback to the complaints and finally to the suggestions. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and occasionally inaccurate, such as the use of 'To begain' and 'Fristly'. Additionally, some sentences are fragmented or lack smooth transitions, such as 'Which was meeting for whole day.' Improving the variety and accuracy of linking words would enhance the flow of the letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the message to be understood. There are some attempts at topic-specific vocabulary like 'conference room', 'projector', and 'sound system'. However, there are several spelling errors ('experienece', 'begain', 'romm', 'projecter', 'serval', 'dissappointing', 'attented') and word choice issues ('unhappy experience' instead of 'dissatisfaction', 'book session' instead of 'tasting session'). The range is sufficient for the task but lacks the precision and sophistication required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede readability. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('The projecter and sound system was working', 'there was serval certain issue') and tense inconsistencies ('We have organised' instead of 'We organised'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with sentence boundaries. While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar prevents the response from reaching a higher band.

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

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