Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-07-30

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 Sam, I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to suggest you some places to live near University. As you know, as a student you should know how to balance work and study. Because it is very expensive to live in canada. When I was a student I use to live near newton exchange. From that place, you can easily access any bus whether for University or workplace. Our university students also has a account on instagram named vancouver housing from which you can get some affordable accommodation options.

while choosing accommodation, make sure your roommate and you should have some likely thoughts. And I also suggest that look for roommate who is also student as you. with this you guys may concentrat more on studies. For example, Once I started living with working girl, she has night shift so it affect my study time. I hope it helps. if you need any help ,I am always here to help you.

yours faithfully,

Jaskampreet kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt: describing your past accommodation, recommending a search method, and providing a warning. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend. However, the development of your ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the warning about choosing a roommate could be more detailed to fully explain the potential pitfalls. While you mention your personal experience with a working roommate, the advice remains a bit brief. To improve, try to expand on your points with more descriptive language and clearer explanations to ensure the reader fully understands your perspective.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The email is generally easy to follow, and you have used some basic cohesive devices like 'For example' and 'When I was a student'. However, the paragraphing is insufficient; the entire body of the letter is grouped into two very short, dense blocks. Using clear paragraph breaks between the different points (e.g., one for your experience, one for the recommendation, and one for the warning) would significantly improve the logical flow. Additionally, some transitions between sentences feel a bit abrupt, making the progression of ideas feel slightly mechanical rather than fluid.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your message, such as 'affordable accommodation' and 'access'. However, there are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice, such as 'likely thoughts' (instead of 'similar lifestyles') and 'concentrat' (spelling error). You also use 'suggest you some places' which is grammatically incorrect; 'suggest some places to you' would be better. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise collocations and ensuring that your word choices sound natural in the context of giving advice to a friend.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

Your writing contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. Examples include 'I use to live' (should be 'used to'), 'students also has a account' (subject-verb agreement), and 'she has night shift' (missing article). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with spacing after commas and periods. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your meaning, they indicate a need for more careful proofreading and a better grasp of basic sentence construction and verb tenses.

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