Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-28

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 4.5)

Dear sir,

i am writting to express my concern about that, your hotel food regarding a matter which i belive warrants your urgent attetion.

To provide some context, about your hotel food is not good. This took place on last sunday at 10 pm, and rerettably the situation has since worsened. As a rsult, i have been put to considerable inconvinence, which i am sure you will be understand is far form satisfactory.

in light of the above, your hotel food is not good, I am ver disappointed with your local hotel. And my company coligues are also disappointed for your food. I request you yo improve your food and main thing that you use fresh food fresh meat and fresh chicken. This is very important for your hotel and you growing as well. Should that prove impractical.

I would appreciate a written response outlining the steps you intend to take. Thankyou for your time and attention to this matter.

Your's faithfully,

Naqeebullah

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

The letter communicates dissatisfaction with the lunch and asks the manager to improve the food, so the central complaint is identifiable. However, it does not adequately address two important parts of the task: it never says what participants liked about the hotel, and the reason for their dissatisfaction is only vaguely expressed as “your hotel food is not good.” The reference to using “fresh food fresh meat and fresh chicken” offers a basic suggestion, but it needs to be linked clearly to the problem and developed with practical steps, such as improving preparation or offering suitable menu choices. The details about Sunday at 10 pm and personal inconvenience do not fit the stated all-day company meeting particularly well. Cover each bullet point directly and keep the details relevant.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a recognisable letter structure, with an opening complaint, a request for improvement, and a closing request for a written response. Some linking phrases, including “To provide some context,” “As a result,” and “in light of the above,” show an attempt to connect ideas. However, the progression is difficult to follow because the complaint is repeated rather than organised into clear points, and the context paragraph does not explain the meeting or what participants liked. The abrupt fragment “Should that prove impractical” is left unfinished, while paragraphing and capitalisation are inconsistent. Organise the letter into distinct paragraphs for context and positive feedback, the food problem, and proposed improvements; use transitions only where they clarify the relationship between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some vocabulary appropriate to a formal complaint, such as “express my concern,” “warrants your urgent attention,” and “written response outlining the steps you intend to take.” These phrases show an attempt to use a more formal register. However, much of the vocabulary is repetitive or imprecise: “your hotel food is not good” appears more than once, and “fresh food fresh meat and fresh chicken” does not clearly explain the specific concern. Numerous spelling errors, including “writting,” “belive,” “inconvinence,” and “coligues,” make the writing less clear and weaken the effect of the formal phrases. Build a more accurate range for describing food quality and service, and proofread spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The letter attempts some longer structures, including “I would appreciate a written response outlining the steps you intend to take” and “which i am sure you will be understand.” The first is controlled, but the second shows difficulty forming a relative clause and using the verb phrase correctly. Errors occur frequently in basic sentence construction and punctuation: “about your hotel food is not good” is not a complete, well-formed clause, and “I am ver disappointed with your local hotel. And my company coligues…” creates an awkward sentence break. There are also problems with articles, prepositions, and capitalisation, as in “on last sunday.” Practise accurate simple sentences first, then add complex clauses, checking verb forms and sentence boundaries.

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

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