Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-06

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 5.0)

Hello Mr. Patel,

I am going to write this letter to inform you about the review of participants about hotel.

we organized meeting in your hotel that went well and every member of the meeting were happy with preparation of this.

however, there is one thing that no one like that is food that was served to them. the taste of food is not good and it was too oily.

so, I just request you to improve the quality of food for future that no one complaint about it. I am eagerly waiting for your response.

Your faithfully,

Pooja Sharma

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, reaching only 100 words. While all three bullet points are addressed, the development of ideas is insufficient. For instance, the explanation of why participants were unhappy with the food is limited to 'not good' and 'too oily', lacking the detail required for a formal letter. The suggestions for improvement are also very brief. To achieve a higher band, you must expand on your points by providing specific examples or more detailed explanations to fully satisfy the task requirements and reach the necessary length.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is organized into short paragraphs, which is appropriate for the format. However, the progression of ideas is somewhat disjointed due to the brevity of the text. There is a lack of cohesive devices to link sentences smoothly; for example, the transition between the positive feedback about the hotel and the negative feedback about the food is abrupt. The use of 'however' is a good start, but more varied linking words such as 'furthermore', 'consequently', or 'in light of this' would improve the flow and logical connection between your points.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is functional but basic. You rely on simple descriptors like 'went well', 'happy', and 'not good'. To improve, you should aim for more precise and formal language suitable for a business letter. For example, instead of 'not good', you could use 'unsatisfactory' or 'substandard'. Additionally, there are some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'review of participants about hotel' (should be 'feedback from participants regarding the hotel') and 'no one complaint' (should be 'no one complains'). Expanding your range of vocabulary will help convey your message more professionally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains several grammatical errors that affect the clarity of the writing. There are issues with article usage ('the food', 'the hotel'), subject-verb agreement ('every member... were happy' should be 'was happy'), and tense consistency ('I am going to write' is less natural than 'I am writing'). The sentence structures are predominantly simple, with limited attempts at complex sentences. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction and proofreading for common errors like missing articles and incorrect verb forms. Incorporating more complex structures, such as relative clauses or conditional sentences, would also enhance your score.

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

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