You eat at your college cafeteria at lunch time every day.. 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 Sir or Madam,Dear Sir / Madam
I am writing in connection with our college cafeteria. Since almost every student spends some time here every day, I believe it is in everyone’s best interest to find ways to improve the quality of this central eatery.
The cafeteria itself is modern, spacious and attractive. The newly painted seaside muralsmurals of the seaside give the seating area an open, airy, outdoor feeling thatwhich makes it very pleasant to eat meals there. This is further enhanced by the large green plants and flowing water fountains.
The main problem with the cafeteria is in the food served! First of all, there is a very limited selection available. Each day offersoffers up only standard North American fare such as hamburgersfare of hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and french fries. Not only is this selection unhealthy, but also uninteresting day in and day out. We have so many international students on campus, it would be wonderful to have some curries, burritos and falafel added to the menu. Secondly, since this is a student cafeteria, prices need to stay low. We have unfortunately seen two price hikes in the last two years.
I am sure that ifI am sure if we offer a wider range of foods, at better prices, the cafeteria will continue to run profitably as more students choose to eat there.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Bernard
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter is highly effective: it presents a clear purpose, develops praise and criticism with specific detail, and turns the identified problems into practical recommendations in a polished formal register. The main limitation is minor phrasing and punctuation unevenness in a few long sentences; the best improvement would be to tighten those constructions so the otherwise precise, persuasive message reads with complete fluency.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response fully covers what is liked, what is wrong, and how the cafeteria could improve, with relevant and persuasive development.
Make the final recommendation slightly more explicit by directly requesting that the magazine raise these proposals with the college.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas are organised into a clear problem-and-solution progression, and cohesive devices guide the reader smoothly without becoming intrusive.
Break up the longest problem paragraph to give the menu and pricing issues equally clear emphasis.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is wide, precise, and well suited to a formal recommendation letter, with only occasional slightly awkward phrasing.
Replace phrases such as 'the problem ... is in the food served' with more idiomatic wording such as 'lies in the food on offer.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A broad range of sentence forms is used with strong control, and the few minor punctuation or construction issues do not affect clarity.
Add a comma after the introductory clause in the final conditional sentence and keep complex comparisons fully balanced.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You eat at your college cafeteria at lunch time every day.. 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.