Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-03

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 7.0)

Dear Sir,

I am writing to formally offer feedback regarding our recent booking at your hotel for a departmental meeting on 26 January. While initially I had high expectations of your premium service, my experience has been far from satisfactory.

What participants found most compelling about your hotel was the arrangements and venue selection. Staff were exceptionally helpful and organised the meeting in a systematic way. In particular, Mr Minelli showed exemplary professionalism by going above and beyond to fulfil everybody's needs.

However, we recognised that the quality of the food was below standard. As it was winter, everybody was expecting hot and fresh food; we were served raw and cold dishes. My team members were extremely disappointed by the lunch and some reported that a couple of snacks were bitter in taste.

As a loyal customer, who patronized your hotel for years, I believe you will take immediate steps to rectify this issue. It would be great if you could hire more experienced cooks so that you donot face the similar cicumstances.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Vishal.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by identifying what participants liked about the hotel, explaining why they were unhappy with the food, and providing suggestions for future improvement. All bullet points are covered appropriately. For instance, the writer clearly points out that participants appreciated the venue selection and staff helpfulness, while detailing the food quality issues such as cold dishes and bitter snacks. Furthermore, constructive suggestions are made regarding the hiring of experienced cooks. However, the response sits at this level because some ideas, particularly the explanation of the food issues, tend to generalise slightly rather than being fully extended with specific catering examples. To reach a higher level, the writer could provide more precise details about the lunch service to strengthen the depth of task development.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter demonstrates clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct and appropriate focus, starting with the purpose of the letter, moving to the positive aspects, then the negative feedback, and finally concluding with expectations and suggestions. The writer uses cohesive devices reasonably well, such as transitional markers like 'While initially', 'In particular', and 'However', which help guide the reader smoothly through the text. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, reflecting standard business letter conventions. To move towards higher bands, the writer could employ a slightly wider and more flexible range of cohesive phrases to link sentences and paragraphs even more fluidly, while ensuring that referencing remains consistently tight throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task and demonstrates a sufficient range for some flexibility and precision. The writer attempts some less common lexical items and collocations, such as 'formally offer feedback', 'exemplary professionalism', and 'loyal customer'. Word choices generally convey the intended meaning well, and the style is mostly appropriate for a formal complaint letter. However, there are occasional lexical inaccuracies and typographical errors that prevent a higher score, such as 'patronized' instead of 'have patronized' (grammar overlap handled separately or noted as tense choice), 'donot', and 'cicumstances'. To achieve a higher band, the writer should eliminate minor spelling slips and incorporate more sophisticated, less common vocabulary with precise control over collocation and word form.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

The writing exhibits a good variety of complex structures and frequent error-free sentences, demonstrating solid control over grammar and punctuation. Examples of successful complex constructions include 'While initially I had high expectations of your premium service, my experience has been far from satisfactory' and 'It would be great if you could hire more experienced cooks so that you donot face the similar cicumstances.' Control of verb tenses and agreement is generally good, though a few minor errors persist, such as 'donot' (which also affects mechanics) and minor articles or preposition choices. To attain a higher band, the writer needs to maintain an even higher proportion of completely error-free complex sentences and display a wider repertoire of sophisticated grammatical structures with flawless punctuation.

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

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