Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-07-26

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 7.5)

Dear Shalini,

I hope you are doing well and at best of your health. I heard that you enrolled at my university and recently been offered a place to live near campus. I am writing this letter to you as you are seeking advice on better place to stay. When I used to study in the university, I lived in one bedroom apartment with my friend and we used to split rent and other expenses. Apart from this, It was a residential building and had coin laundry service as well as utilities were included in rent.

I would like to suggest that you should find home to live near basic amenities such as grocery stores and bus stations. Also, the best way to look for place is to meet with local realtors as they know a lots of houses which welcomes students as their renters because in this city, most of the landlords look for family rather than bachelors. Besides this, some of the local newspapers list various advertisements of rental rooms, which could be good option to find.

Furthermore, I think you should exercise some cautions while looking for room such as always read the full details in rental agreement so that you are aware of which are permittable and which are non- permittable. Despite this, always ask for extra key of an apartment or room and keep it with you so that if you lost the first key, you still have access to the place. Apart from this, take pictures of the rental place as many as you can and hence you got a proof that what you break or what not.

I hope to hearing from you soon.

Yours lovingly,

Harmandeep Singh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 8.0

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You described your past living situation, provided a clear recommendation for finding accommodation, and offered relevant warnings regarding rental agreements and security. The tone is appropriate for an email to a friend, and the ideas are well-developed and relevant. The response is fully on-topic and meets the requirements of the task effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The email is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each focusing on a specific requirement of the prompt. You use a range of cohesive devices such as 'Apart from this', 'Furthermore', and 'Besides this' to link your ideas. While some transitions are slightly repetitive or mechanical, the overall flow is smooth and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different topics.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task. You use topic-specific terms like 'rental agreement', 'amenities', and 'realtors'. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'at best of your health' (should be 'in the best of health') and 'permittable' (should be 'permissible'). Despite these minor slips, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly and effectively throughout the email.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While there are several grammatical errors—such as 'I heard that you enrolled... and recently been offered' (missing auxiliary), 'know a lots of houses' (should be 'a lot of'), and 'if you lost the first key' (should be 'if you lose')—these errors do not impede communication. Your control of punctuation is generally good, though there are occasional issues with article usage and verb tense consistency. The writing remains clear despite these slips.

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