Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-07

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)

dear sir i recently organised a meeting in your hotel in the honor of my participants to celebrate our yearly goal of the comapny in wich the meal is also icluded in the bookingf of the hotel. my team likes your hotel interior and the view of sea wich is visible from your 1st paortion of the meeting hall they admired the hotel staff and management the way they welcome us overall your hotel is good in resonable budget but the other hand there is something that i want to make in your notice to be make more perfect and good for the reputation of the hotel like food first of all your food is not cooked well your sheff make it more spicy wich is unable to eat for mostly by my team on 2nd they didnt serve in proffesional manners most of the items are late like starter or sweet dish arrived after half of the meal wich so un proffesional and not good for your hotel. i hope you understand my suggestions in a postive way to make all the things perfect in future. change your kitchen managment and serving team as your hotel standard.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the prompt: you mentioned the positive aspects of the hotel, explained the issues with the food, and provided suggestions for improvement. However, the response lacks a formal structure. It is written as a single block of text rather than using paragraphs to separate the different points. Additionally, the tone is somewhat informal and aggressive in places (e.g., 'change your kitchen management'), which is not appropriate for a formal letter of complaint. To improve, ensure you use clear paragraphing and a more professional, polite tone to convey your dissatisfaction effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter lacks paragraphing, which makes it difficult to follow the progression of ideas. The entire response is one long paragraph, which is a significant weakness in terms of coherence. While you use some basic cohesive devices like 'first of all' and 'on 2nd', the overall flow is hindered by the lack of structural organization. To achieve a higher band, you must organize your ideas into distinct paragraphs: one for the positive feedback, one for the complaints, and one for the suggestions/closing. This will help the reader navigate your points more logically.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but there are frequent spelling errors such as 'comapny', 'wich', 'paortion', 'sheff', and 'proffesional'. These errors are noticeable and detract from the professional quality of the letter. You rely on simple, repetitive language. To improve, try to use more precise vocabulary related to hospitality, such as 'catering', 'service standards', or 'culinary experience'. You also struggle with word choice, such as 'make it in your notice' instead of 'bring to your attention'. Focusing on accurate spelling and expanding your range of formal business vocabulary will significantly improve your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with subject-verb agreement, missing articles, and incorrect sentence structure. For example, 'the meal is also icluded' should be 'the meal was also included', and 'your sheff make it more spicy' should be 'your chef made it too spicy'. Punctuation is also problematic, as there is a lack of full stops and capital letters, leading to run-on sentences. You rely mostly on simple sentence structures. To improve, work on using a wider variety of complex sentences and ensure you proofread your work to correct basic errors in tense and punctuation.

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

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