Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-19

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 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter to give my feedback regarding the recent event that I organised at your hotel.

The Chilton hotel has a great reputation and my guests highly appreciated the experience they had at the location. Specifically, the customer service was very efficent and all the guests felt welcomed by the staff. The floor manager Tina, was very polite with the seniors and took care of all their needs.

But the participants were not happy with the food that was served. Majority of my guests complained that the food was bland and had no taste. Few people also said that the chicken served was undercooked. The overall lunch was not at the standard we expect from a hotel like The Chilton.

I would suggest you to make sure that the food is cooked properly before being served. You should also ask the guests about the spice level they would like in their meals instead of serving bland food.

Kind Regards,

Tim David

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You address all three points clearly: you praise the hotel’s service and staff, explain that the food was bland and that some chicken was undercooked, and recommend checking that meals are properly cooked and asking guests about preferred spice levels. These details make the complaint specific and give the manager practical actions to consider. The letter also maintains a clear, appropriate purpose throughout. To strengthen the response further, develop the proposed improvements a little more—for example, suggest reviewing the menu or gathering dietary preferences in advance—and make the request for action more explicit. Overall, the required content is covered and supported, although some suggestions remain fairly general.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter follows a sensible progression: purpose, positive feedback, the food complaint, and recommendations. Separate paragraphs help the reader distinguish these points, and transitions such as “Specifically,” “But,” and “also” make the relationships between ideas clear. The organisation is coherent, though some linking is quite basic or slightly abrupt; “But” at the start of the complaint paragraph, for instance, could be replaced with the more formal “However.” The final recommendations would also connect more smoothly if you signposted them as a response to the specific complaints. More varied, natural transitions and clearer links between the problem and each proposed solution would make the cohesion more flexible.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for a formal complaint, including “highly appreciated,” “customer service,” “undercooked,” and “standard we expect.” These choices communicate the main points clearly, and the specific description of the chicken adds useful precision. There are, however, some spelling and word-choice or collocation issues: “efficent” should be “efficient,” “felt welcomed” is less natural than “felt welcome,” and “ask the guests about the spice level” could be expressed more precisely as asking about their preferred level of seasoning. “Bland” and “no taste” also repeat the same idea. Greater accuracy and variety in describing the food and service would improve lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response includes a mix of simple and more developed sentence forms, and most sentences are easy to understand. For example, “The floor manager Tina, was very polite with the seniors and took care of all their needs” combines related information, while the complaint and recommendation sentences use clear clause structures. Some grammatical and punctuation errors remain. In “Majority of my guests complained,” use “The majority of my guests complained”; in “Few people also said,” the intended meaning requires “A few people also said.” The comma after “Tina” is unnecessary, and “I would suggest you to make sure” should be “I would suggest that you make sure” or “I would advise you to make sure.” More consistent accuracy in these patterns would strengthen the writing.

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