Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Your friend has been offered a place on a course at the university where you studied. He/She would like your advice about finding a place to live.

Write an email to your friend. In your email

• describe where you lived when you were a student at the university
• recommend the best way for him/her to look for accommodation
• warn him/her of mistakes students make when choosing accommodation

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your email as follows:

Dear ..........,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Loveleen,

I hope you are doing well. Congratulations for your placement on a course at the Lovely university. I completed my graduation there last year in April. I can ensure you that it is a best place for you.They have the best teachers in the university.

However, I would love to help you to find a accomation that would be perfect for you. I used to live in a studio appartment near by university on the Gandhi Road. It was a lovely place with a small den, a kitchen and a bathroom. Its was a private space, there was not any kind of involment with other tenats. That really impressed me. I would recommed that you should check online and shortlist some places which you like. After that you can contact them and ask for a visit. Moreover, if you want to live in a apartment like me, I can give you phone number to my previous owner.

There are some things that I want to you to keep in mind when you are choosing your accommodation. Firstly, always ask about facilities in the building such as heating, water, gym, parking and air conditioning. Secondly, I recommend always visit the place, before finalising and paying rent. Sometime the actual place is completely different from the one showing in the online pictures.

I hope this will help you to find a nice place. Good luck for your new college life. I look forward to hearing from you about your new accomdation.

Best wishes,

Manisha

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

You address all three requested points in a friendly, appropriate email. You describe your studio near the university and explain its privacy, recommend searching online, contacting landlords and arranging a visit, and warn about checking facilities and misleading photos. The advice is relevant and generally clear, with useful personal detail such as offering your former landlord’s number. This fits a strong response because the task is fully covered and the ideas are extended with examples. To make the advice even more complete, explain how your friend could compare shortlisted options or check practical details such as the lease and total costs; the warning currently focuses mainly on facilities and viewing the property. The opening and closing also maintain a suitable personal tone.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The email follows a clear progression: congratulations, your own housing experience, recommendations, cautions, and a friendly closing. Paragraphing helps separate these stages, and linking expressions such as “However,” “Moreover,” and “Firstly” guide the reader through the advice. The sequence from searching online to contacting landlords and visiting properties is especially easy to follow. Cohesion is generally effective, though some transitions feel formulaic, and the opening moves from praise of the university to accommodation advice with a slightly abrupt “However.” The long accommodation paragraph also combines your description and several recommendations. A clearer paragraph break and more varied, natural links between ideas would make the organisation feel more polished and less dependent on signposting words.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the housing advice, including relevant terms such as “studio apartment,” “private space,” “facilities,” and “finalising.” The tone is appropriately friendly, and the reader can understand your meaning throughout. However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “accomation,” “appartment,” “tenats,” “recommed,” and “accomdation.” Some expressions are also unnatural or imprecise: “placement on a course” would be better expressed as “place on a course,” while “a small den” may not clearly describe a studio’s living area. These slips limit the accuracy and flexibility of the vocabulary. Proofread spelling and choose more conventional housing collocations to make your advice sound more natural and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more developed sentence forms, including advice clauses with “if” and sequencing with “After that.” Most sentences communicate the intended meaning, and the email remains easy to understand. Some grammatical errors persist, however. For example, “Congratulations for your placement” needs a different preposition, and “I can ensure you that it is a best place” has problems with the verb pattern and article use. In “Its was a private space, there was not any kind of involvement,” two independent clauses are joined with a comma; separating them or using a conjunction would improve punctuation. There are also errors in “I want to you to keep in mind” and “always visit the place.” Review articles, verb patterns, and sentence boundaries to improve accuracy.

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