Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-16

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 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter to let you know that I recently organised an all-day meeting for my company, which took place in your hotel. Participants at the meeting said that they liked your hotel, but they were unhappy about the food that was served for lunch.

The participants liked the customer servive very much because they were being polite and respectful. Which was excellent, i also liked the way they were behaving towards the customers. The participants also liked the structure of the building and the swimming pool that your hotel had at the back.

The participants were unhappy because first of all the food was dried out and it lacked flavour which tasted very bad. And second of all the food that arrived had some hair in it which gave disgusting vibe from the food and none of the participants liked it. Iam suggesting that please change your chef or send him for training before any other complaints arrive in future.

Looking forward too see your hotel again with improved food

Kind regards,

Kavish

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The letter successfully covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions. You clearly stated what participants liked about the hotel, such as the customer service and the building structure including the swimming pool. You explained the reasons for their unhappiness regarding the lunch food, mentioning that it was dry, lacked flavour, and contained a hair. Finally, you provided a clear suggestion for improvement by recommending a change of chef or additional training. The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint letter. However, to achieve a higher band score, the development of ideas could be slightly more extended and polished with greater detail regarding the specific event.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is generally clear and easy to follow, with a logical overall arrangement that addresses the prompts in a sequential manner. You effectively use paragraphing to separate different points, starting with the introduction, moving to the positive aspects, then the complaints and suggestions, and finally a brief sign-off. Cohesive devices are used, but some transitions are a bit simplistic or faulty, such as 'Which was excellent, i also liked...' starting with a relative pronoun incorrectly punctuated as a separate sentence. Referencing is mostly clear, though transitional phrases between sentences could be varied more smoothly to enhance the overall flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your points clearly. You use some appropriate phrases such as 'customer service', 'all-day meeting', and 'complaints'. However, there are instances of unnatural collocations and overly informal vocabulary, such as 'disgusting vibe from the food' and 'dried out', which detract from the formal tone required for a complaint letter to a hotel manager. There are also occasional word choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'servive' instead of 'service' and 'too see' instead of 'to see', though these do not prevent your overall message from being understood.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures throughout the letter, such as 'I am writing this letter to let you know that I recently organised an all-day meeting...' However, your writing contains several grammatical errors and punctuation issues. For example, fragment sentences like 'Which was excellent, i also liked...' and capitalization slips like 'i' and 'Iam' reduce accuracy. There are also run-on structures, such as connecting clauses with 'And second of all...' repeatedly. While the majority of your sentences communicate your meaning effectively, the frequency of punctuation and minor grammatical slips keeps this criterion at a solid intermediate level.

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

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