You eat in your college cafeteria everyday lunchtime. However, you think it needs some improvements. Write a letter to the college magazine. In your letter: - explain what you like about the cafeteria - say what is wrong with it - suggest how it could be improved
Sample Response
Dear Mr Scott, I am writing this letter to bring a couple of issues to your attention with regardregards to our college cafeteria. I hope that you will publishI am hoping that you would publish an article about these issuesrelated to this in our college magazine in its next issuepublication. I have been going to our college cafeteria since I started collegesince the time I started college, and I have always liked itand I have always liked it since then. In fact, the convenientperfect location of the cafeteria, its cleanlinessits hygiene and cleanliness, and the variety on the menuvarieties of the menu – have all helped attractall have contributed greatly to attracting many students from our college. However, when it comes to the prices of some of the food items as well as the customer service, the cafeteria could certainly be improvedcould certainly do some improvements. Now, I understand that food pricesthe price of the food can be a ratherbit tricky issue to address but I believe that everyone would also agree that some food itemssome of the foods are overpriced, especially for college studentsespecially, for college students, many of whom don’t have a regular incometheir own source of income. So, based on the issues above, I would appreciate it if you publish an article that addresses how this cafeteria is serving us, how the prices of a few food items could be reduced a little and how its staff can be a bit more proactive sooner than later. That would be helpful to all students who eat in the college cafeteria. Yours sincerely, Alex Joshua
Why this response received Band 6.5
The letter clearly identifies positive features, explains concerns about prices and service, and proposes an article advocating lower prices and more proactive staff, so its purpose is well established. Its main limitation is presentation: the entire response, including greeting and sign-off, forms one dense block, while several collocations are awkward. Prioritise conventional letter paragraphing and sharpen expressions such as 'menu variety', 'make improvements', and 'food items'.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose and intended magazine action are clear, and all three bullet points are covered with relevant explanation and practical suggestions.
Describe the customer-service problem more specifically so the proposed need for more proactive staff is fully supported.
Coherence and Cohesion
The sequence follows the three task points logically and uses clear transitions, but the absence of paragraph breaks makes the letter unnecessarily dense.
Separate the greeting, purpose, positive features, problems, proposed improvements, and sign-off into conventional letter paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient range to discuss facilities, pricing, and service, though several collocations are inaccurate or repetitive.
Replace phrases such as 'varieties of the menu', 'do some improvements', and 'some of the foods' with standard alternatives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses several well-formed complex sentences, but article choice, conditional forms, punctuation, and parallel structure show recurring lapses.
Use forms such as 'a rather tricky issue', 'if you published', and parallel modal verbs when listing the article's recommendations.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You eat in your college cafeteria everyday lunchtime. However, you think it needs some improvements. Write a letter to the college magazine. In your letter:
- explain what you like about the cafeteria
- say what is wrong with it
- suggest how it could be improved
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.