Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-16

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)

I hope you are well. I just wanted to give you a feeback and a suggestion about the services of your hotel. Recently I organised a meeting in your hotel.

Many of the participants liked the hotel espacially the infrastructure of the hotel. They really gave a positive review about the hotel in their feedback.

The only service that was lacking is the food. The participants were really unhappy about the quality and the temperature of the food. They were complaining that the quality of the food was very poor and did not meet their ecpectations. Also most of the food that was served was cold. I really did not expected this kind if service from you.

So for future, I just wanted to suggest that please work on the quality of your food. And please take the temperature of the food seriously as well as it affects the overall experience.

Thank you!

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address all three required points: you say participants liked the hotel’s “infrastructure,” explain that the food was poor in quality and cold, and recommend improving both quality and temperature. The purpose of the letter is clear, and the complaints are relevant. However, some points are less fully developed than others. For example, “infrastructure” is quite general; naming a specific feature such as the meeting room, facilities, or staff service would make the positive feedback more informative. The proposed improvements are also broad: you could suggest checking food temperatures before serving or reviewing the menu with the catering team. A more formal closing and a clearer statement of the meeting context would make the letter feel more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The ideas follow a sensible order: you introduce the meeting, report what participants liked, explain the food complaint, and then make recommendations. This gives the letter a coherent overall structure, and phrases such as “The only service” and “So for future” help signal the shift between points. However, the response is presented as one continuous block, so the main stages of the letter are not visually separated. Some linking is also mechanical, particularly the repeated use of “And” to introduce a suggestion. Use separate paragraphs for the positive feedback, the complaint, and the recommendations, and connect the final suggestions more smoothly—for example, “To prevent this in future, I recommend that…”.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main message, with relevant terms such as “participants,” “quality,” “temperature,” and “expectations.” However, the range is limited and several choices or collocations are inaccurate or repetitive. “Infrastructure of the hotel” is vague for describing what guests appreciated, while “give a positive review about” is less natural than “give positive feedback on.” The phrase “the services of your hotel” is also broad when the letter concerns a meeting venue and lunch. Spelling errors such as “feeback,” “espacially,” and “ecpectations” are noticeable and reduce accuracy. Aim for more precise hospitality vocabulary and check spelling carefully; this will make the message sound more professional and easier to follow.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You communicate the main points using mostly straightforward sentences, and you attempt some longer structures, such as “They were complaining that the quality of the food was very poor and did not meet their expectations.” However, there are some errors in verb forms and sentence construction. In “I really did not expected,” the verb should be “expect”; “the only service that was lacking is” would be more consistent as “was”; and “as it affects” has an unclear reference after the plural idea of food temperature. The request “please work on the quality of your food” also needs a clearer grammatical frame, such as “I would ask you to improve…”. Vary sentence patterns while checking tense consistency, verb forms, and how pronouns refer to earlier ideas.

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