Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-23

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 hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with the food.

Recently, our company organised an all-day meeeting in a local hotel. So it was an annual event which situated at the banquet hall. Also I would like to mention about the decoration and lightning, each and every person has made a good comment on that.

Staff members were so happy with all services except the food. There was a significant mistakes in the food like rice was over-coocked, foual smelling and no discription for the items. Apart from that members were so confused about the dinner timing because of mismanagement.

Lastly, I would like to suggest some ideas to improve in that particular area for better services. The most important thing was a discription as many people have an alergy with some food items and it could be resky for them. Also manager should have an particular timetable for an events.

Thank you much for time and consideration.

Yours faith fully

Yash.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The candidate covers all three bullet points required by the prompt, albeit with varying degrees of success and some lapses in tone and clarity. The letter starts by saying what the participants liked, mentioning the decoration and lighting with phrases like each and every person has made a good comment on that. The second bullet point is addressed by explaining why participants were unhappy about the food, citing specific issues such as rice was over-coocked, foual smelling and no discription. Finally, suggestions for improvement are provided, advising the manager to include food descriptions for allergies and set a particular timetable. While the ideas are relevant and directly answer the prompt requirements, the purpose and tone are slightly muddled by starting the opening sentence with expressing dissatisfaction before mentioning the positives. Overall, the task is adequately addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter exhibits a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical letter-writing structure, moving from an opening greeting and statement of purpose to discussing the positive aspects, the negative aspects, and finally suggestions for improvement. Paragraphing is attempted to separate distinct ideas, though paragraph breaks and transitions are somewhat mechanical and abrupt. For instance, transitional phrases like Apart from that and Lastly are used, but logical progression within paragraphs is sometimes hindered by sudden shifts in topic, such as jumping from the meeting location to lighting. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and cohesive devices are overused or used rigidly, resulting in a somewhat choppy flow. However, the progression of the letter remains understandable to the reader throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common and topic-specific items such as dissatisfaction, banquet hall, and mismanagement. However, there are numerous lexical and spelling inaccuracies throughout the text, including over-coocked, foual, discription, alergy, and resky. Collocations and word choices are occasionally unnatural or incorrect, such as made a good comment instead of made positive comments, and Thank you much for time instead of Thank you very much for your time. While these errors are noticeable and detract from the precision of the writing, they do not severely impede communication, as the reader can still readily understand the intended meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures. However, grammatical and punctuation errors are frequent throughout the response. Examples of errors include tense and preposition issues, such as an annual event which situated, mention about the decoration, and manager should have an particular timetable for an events. There are also issues with article usage and subject-verb agreement. Although the writer attempts complex structures, these attempts frequently contain errors. Punctuation errors are also present, particularly in the closing formula Yours faith fully. Despite these persistent errors, the meaning is generally recoverable, placing this performance solidly at Band 5.0.

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