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 complaint about the food service that had been offered by your team during the company meeting along with sharing excellent experience regarding other facilities we enjoyed during our stay.

First off all, our team really apprieciate the managements which had been arranged by your hotel team. For example, the air- conditioning system was working properly which was helping our team to focus on meeting in hot weather. Secondly, the hotel management was really helpful because one of our team member lost his watch in the hotel and your team help us to find it on earliest manner.

However, we are disappointed about the food service we got because we requested for the indian food and the Thai food was served to us. After informing about that our food was served 2 hours late which was very disappointing. Nobody enjoyed it due to waiting for long time.

I would like to advice you regarding the food service that nobody can suffer from such problems. Hotel management should make a proper instructions of food for each customer who are visting the hotel and serverd accordingly. Secondly, you should inform your clients about how much time it is going to take for preparing food. So they will be aware of that.

I hope this feedback wiil help you alot in future.

Your faithfuly,

Navneet Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The candidate has successfully addressed all three bullet points of the task prompt. The letter begins by mentioning what the participants liked about the hotel, specifically praising the air-conditioning system and the helpful staff who assisted in finding a lost watch. Next, the writer clearly explains why they were unhappy about the food, noting that Indian food was requested but Thai food was served, followed by a two-hour delay. Finally, the letter suggests improvements for the future, advising the manager to maintain proper instructions for each customer's dietary preferences and to inform clients about food preparation times. The tone is appropriate for a formal complaint letter, and the purpose is clear from the opening paragraph. All parts of the prompt are well-developed, earning a solid band score for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter exhibits a clear overall logical organization, progressing smoothly from the purpose of the letter to the positive aspects, the complaints, the suggestions, and a polite closing. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different topics, such as the hotel facilities in the second paragraph and the food complaints in the third. However, there are some minor mechanical issues with cohesion and transitional phrases. For instance, 'First off all' contains a spelling error and is slightly informal, and 'Secondly' is repeated closely in consecutive sentences ('Secondly, the hotel management...' and 'Secondly, you should inform...'). Nevertheless, referencing is generally clear and the letter reads as a cohesive whole, maintaining an acceptable level of logical progression throughout.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The candidate demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a general correspondence task. Phrases such as 'air-conditioning system', 'feedback', and 'dietary preferences' (implied) show an ability to convey precise meanings. However, there are several lexical errors and awkward word choices throughout the text. For example, 'complaint' is used instead of the verb 'complain' ('I am writing this letter to complaint'), 'apprieciate' contains a spelling mistake, and 'on earliest manner' should be 'at the earliest opportunity'. Furthermore, 'make a proper instructions' exhibits a collocation error with articles and plurals. Despite these noticeable errors and occasional spelling slips, the vocabulary used is sufficient to communicate the message clearly without impeding the reader's understanding.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses ('who are visting the hotel') and conditional/time clauses ('So they will be aware of that'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several tense and passive voice errors, such as 'the food service that had been offered' (past perfect passive where simple past is required) and 'our food was served 2 hours late'. Additional errors include subject-verb agreement issues ('one of our team member lost') and minor prepositional or article mistakes ('on indian food'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, and although errors in grammar and verb forms occur frequently enough to prevent a higher band, they rarely impede overall communication of the message.

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

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