Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-17

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,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter regarding an experience at your hotel during our visit. We had a meeting at your hotel two days ago which was amazing, but there is a concern about lunch.

We had all-day meeting in which food was included. Everyone likes the service, environment, cleaning and staff, but unhappy about the food served for lunch. We ordered Indian food such as curry and sabzi, naan, salad and some drinks. But salad was stale and naan was not looking fresh. We showed a concern to hotel staff as well, but they said that the refrigerator is not working. We all have tasted food from different hotels knowing what could be the taste but this experience was not great as it should be. You can install some new refrigerators and keep all the stuff fresh so that there would be no problem if one is damaged.

I hope you will look into this matter and take an immediate action.

Thank you

Yours faithfully

Sukh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response successfully covers all bullet points required by the prompt. You appropriately mentioned what participants liked about the hotel, such as the service, environment, cleaning, and staff. You explained why they were unhappy about the food by detailing the stale salad, unfresh naan, and a broken refrigerator. Furthermore, you provided a clear and practical suggestion for improvement, recommending the installation of new refrigerators. The tone of the letter is appropriate, although addressing the manager as 'Dear Sir' when the prompt specifies 'Dear Sir or Madam' is a minor deviation. Overall, the task is well handled and fully addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter maintains a clear overall progression from the introduction of the meeting, to the specific complaint about the lunch, and finally to the suggested solution. Paragraphing is used to separate different ideas, which helps guide the reader. However, some cohesive devices feel a bit mechanical or abrupt, such as the transition into the menu items and the explanation of the broken refrigerator. Referencing is generally clear, but smoother linking words would elevate the flow of the text. Overall, the organisation is logical and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully communicating your points regarding the hotel and the catering issues. You attempted some less common phrasing like 'immediate action' and mentioned specific food items. However, there are some word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as writing 'cleaning' instead of 'cleanliness', 'naan was not looking fresh' instead of 'did not look fresh', and 'we showed a concern' instead of 'raised a concern'. These minor errors do not impede communication, but they limit the range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrated a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as using subordinate clauses with 'so that there would be no problem'. There are several grammatical errors present, including article omission ('an all-day meeting'), pluralisation issues ('everyone likes' instead of 'liked'), and tense shifts. For instance, you wrote 'Everyone likes the service... but unhappy about the food', mixing present and past tenses inappropriately in a past-tense narrative. Despite these errors, the meaning remains clear throughout the letter.

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