Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-04
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 5.5)
Dear Kuldeep,
I hope you are doing well. I am very happy for you because you choose study of my university at University Canada West , Vancouver. In addition, When i was student of the university. I lived in basement at Surrey.
Eventually, there are numerous way to look your accommodation. Initially, you should look for accommodation on Facebook Marketplace. Due to this, mostly individuals do post on Facebook Marketplace, which rooms are ready for rent. Secondly, you ought to check on front of house as some people put paper on the wall.
However, mostly students take mistakes when they look for accommodation. They look illegal basement because of low price but they don’t get utilities.
These are my advice for you when you look the accommodation, you check whole things.
Your sincerely,
Lovejit Kaur
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response covers all three bullet points: describing your past accommodation, recommending a search method, and warning about common mistakes. However, the response is under the 150-word minimum, which limits the development of your ideas. For example, the description of your past living situation is very brief, and the advice regarding mistakes is somewhat vague. To improve, you should expand on your personal experiences and provide more detailed, practical advice. Because the response is under-length, it fails to fully develop the required points, which impacts the overall task achievement score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The email is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use some cohesive devices like 'In addition', 'Eventually', and 'Initially' to link ideas. However, some of these transitions are used incorrectly or sound unnatural, such as 'Eventually' to start a paragraph about current search methods. The flow between sentences is sometimes disjointed, and the logical progression could be smoother. To improve, focus on using transition words that accurately reflect the relationship between your ideas, such as using 'Furthermore' or 'Additionally' instead of 'Eventually'.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. You rely on basic phrasing, such as 'take mistakes' (which should be 'make mistakes') and 'look the accommodation' (which should be 'look for'). There is also some repetition of phrases like 'look for accommodation'. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more specific vocabulary related to housing, such as 'tenancy agreement', 'utilities included', or 'commute'. Improving your word choice and collocation will make your writing sound more natural and professional.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include 'you choose study of my university' (should be 'you have chosen to study at my university') and 'there are numerous way' (should be 'ways'). You rely mostly on simple sentence structures, and there are errors with articles and prepositions, such as 'in basement at Surrey' (should be 'in a basement in Surrey'). To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement, correct preposition usage, and attempting more complex sentence structures while ensuring they are grammatically accurate.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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