Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-26

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

I had organied a all day meeting for my company in your hotel our participants of meeting really liked your hotel sitting arrangement and the appearance of hotel but they were unhappy about the food you served in lunch

they are unhappy about the food because the vegetables are not fresh and smell is coming from food and the founded a long hair from food

for next time you should have to take care of food and hygein of chefs who are making that to avoid thees mistakes you should have to buy fresh vegetables and take care that chefs should wear a net cap and glowes while making food and kitchen should be clean where he is preparing food

and make a trap for mosquitos, flyes and other insects that thay cant enter in hotel or inside the kitchen area

but our participants really liked you adjustment of sitting , entry , the presentations you made

Thank you

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the prompt required for a General Training Task 1 letter. You explicitly mention what the participants liked about the hotel, notably the sitting arrangement and appearance. You clearly explain why they were unhappy about the food by mentioning that the vegetables were not fresh, a strange smell was coming from the food, and a long hair was found. Finally, you provide several specific suggestions for future improvement, such as buying fresh vegetables, ensuring chefs wear net caps and gloves, cleaning the kitchen, and installing insect traps. The tone is appropriate for a complaint letter, and all bullet points are addressed effectively, leading to a solid performance for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The letter lacks proper paragraphing, as it is written as one large, continuous block of text without punctuation boundaries such as full stops. Ideas are bundled together in run-on sentences, which makes reading difficult and forces the reader to pause and decipher where thoughts begin and end. While the logical progression moves naturally from praise to the complaint and finally to suggestions, the total absence of structural division and standard punctuation significantly impacts the overall cohesion. Cohesive devices are minimal, relying mostly on repetition of conjunctions rather than sophisticated linking words.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your message clearly despite limitations. You use some relevant terms related to the context, such as 'appearance', 'sitting arrangement', 'hygein', and 'fresh vegetables'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors throughout the text, including 'organied', 'hygein', 'glowes', 'thees', 'flyes', and 'thay'. Furthermore, the range of vocabulary is somewhat restricted, relying heavily on basic, repetitive phrasing to explain your points. While communication is not severely impeded, the frequency of lexical and spelling inaccuracies prevents the response from achieving a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Grammatically, the response is characterized by a heavy reliance on long run-on sentences joined by coordinating conjunctions, with a complete absence of periods or full stops to demarcate sentences until the very end. This creates structural issues and limits the display of varied complex sentence forms. There are numerous grammatical errors, such as 'I had organied a all day meeting' (article misuse and spelling), 'the vegetables are not fresh and smell is coming from food and the founded a long hair from food' (tense shifts and awkward preposition choice), and 'you should have to take care' (modal redundancy). Errors are frequent and often require the reader to re-read segments to fully grasp the intended meaning.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.