Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-13

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)

Hi sir,

Hope you are doing well.

I am writing this letter to expree my team view point related to your restaurant that we had in our last meeting.

As you know we booked your restaurant for our company meeting last day where we really enjoyed the customer service as well as the nice sea view from your restaurant. In addition to this, my all staff are feeling over the moon due to all facilities and sitting area.

well, everything is perfect rather than food that effects the mood of everyone because the low quality and too much spiciness of food.

I want to suggest you to hire the excellent chefs who have superior experience in his field and also add some different sweet dishes so people will enjoy it.

Hope you will take this letter positively and work on it. see you soon.

your faithfully

garrt

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the main points by mentioning the staff’s enjoyment of the customer service, sea view and facilities, identifying low quality and excessive spiciness as problems, and recommending experienced chefs and more desserts. However, the reasons for dissatisfaction and the proposed improvements are brief and would benefit from specific explanation—for example, what was poor about the food or what menu changes would suit participants. The letter also refers to booking a “restaurant” rather than the hotel, which makes the setting less precise. The response is three words below the required minimum, so it does not meet the length requirement. Develop each bullet point a little further and ensure the letter follows the requested opening.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter has a recognisable sequence: purpose, positive feedback, complaint, suggestion and closing. Paragraph breaks help separate these functions, and phrases such as “In addition to this” and “because” show attempts to connect ideas. However, progression is sometimes abrupt: the complaint is compressed into one sentence, and “well” does not create a clear transition from praise to criticism. The opening and closing also feel disconnected from the formal purpose. Use a more consistent formal structure, with one paragraph for each main point, and connect the complaint and recommendations explicitly to the participants’ feedback.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary, including “customer service,” “sea view,” “low quality” and “spiciness,” so the reader can understand the main message. There are also attempts at less common expressions, such as “over the moon” and “superior experience,” but these are not always natural or suitable for a formal letter. Noticeable spelling and word-choice problems include “expree,” “view point,” “effects the mood,” and “sitting area.” These errors make the writing less precise, even though the intended meaning is generally recoverable. Choose accurate, conventional phrases for feedback and recommendations, and check spelling carefully before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response communicates its basic meaning, but grammatical control is inconsistent and the range of sentence structures is limited. Some longer sentences are attempted, yet they contain errors, as in “my all staff are feeling” and “hire the excellent chefs who have superior experience in his field.” The sentence beginning “everything is perfect rather than food” also has an unclear comparison structure. Punctuation and capitalisation are inconsistent, particularly at the starts of sentences and in the closing. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement, articles and pronoun agreement, and build longer sentences from reliable patterns. Proofreading for sentence boundaries and capital letters would improve clarity.

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