Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-15

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 am writing this letter to inform you to express my disappoinment regarding your hotel food quality.

To begins with, few days before i booked an all day meeting at you restaurent, i recived many feedback from my collegues,about hotel environment they are really so happy with the arrengemnt of tables screen and drink serving as well as we got atrrect with your staff and the facelities which we got.

However, the only thing which make us unhappy is a food, it is delicious,but it was cold and in some of food some spices are too much which leades a stomach problem to my friends.I am just informing you to provide hot and good food with suitable caution as well as we notice some of your cook are not following safety standard. moreover, i would like to give suggestion that hotel manager must improve the quality and standerd of the food in future to extend thier income.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The candidate has successfully addressed all three bullet points required in the task instructions. The letter begins by identifying what participants liked about the hotel, noting positive aspects such as the environment, table arrangements, screens, drink service, staff, and facilities. It then explains the reason for unhappiness regarding the food, stating that while it was delicious, it was cold, overly spiced, and caused stomach issues, while also mentioning concerns about hygiene standards among the cooks. Finally, a clear suggestion is offered for the manager to improve the food quality and standards in the future. Although the tone and development could be slightly more polished, all core communicative requirements are present and clearly met.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical structure appropriate for a semi-formal complaint letter, moving from the purpose of writing to positive points, negative points, and suggestions. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. The candidate relies on basic transitional phrases like 'To begins with' and 'moreover', and paragraphing is somewhat problematic with ideas grouped loosely. Referencing and linking between sentences occasionally lack fluidity, resulting in a slightly disjointed flow that prevents the response from achieving a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate their message about the hotel meeting and food quality. There are attempts to use less common items such as 'disappointment', 'environment', and 'standards', but these are accompanied by noticeable spelling and word choice errors, including 'disappoinment', 'restaurent', 'recived', 'collegues', 'arrengemnt', and 'facelities'. While these lexical errors and misspellings do not completely impede overall communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5 due to their frequency.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though attempts at complexity frequently contain grammatical inaccuracies. There are multiple punctuation and structural errors, such as comma splices and run-on sentences (e.g., 'To begins with, few days before i booked...'). Subject-verb agreement and tense inconsistencies are also apparent, such as 'which make us', 'some of food some spices are too much which leades', and 'thier income'. Although the meaning remains understandable, these frequent errors cause difficulty for the reader and place the grammar firmly in the Band 5 category.

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

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