Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-05

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 Sahil,

I am happy that you have become part of the university alumni group. I would like to give you some advice before you begin finding a place to rent a room.

Firstly, when I was a student, I almost spent three years in the Humber Connect Drive area. It's near our university and has affordable options to rent out a room, whether you want private or shared, because the University is within walking distance, although within 5 miles, it has 2 libraries if you want some changes in the study environment.

KIjiji and Marketplace are the best options to look after for a room and call this phone number [redacted phone], if you want the same room I had. This lady has 5 properties, and forsure she gonna give you best out of it.

Moreover, without looking or visiting the place don't send any payments in advance. I made advance payments to a man who did fraud on me by showing pictures of the room. Be aware of these people on the marketplace.

Thanks

Your best friend

Pratibha

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response successfully addresses all three bullet points of the prompt. You clearly described your previous living situation in the Humber Connect Drive area, recommended specific platforms like Kijiji and Marketplace, and provided a relevant warning about avoiding advance payments due to potential fraud. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend. To reach a higher band, you could expand slightly on the 'why' behind your recommendations or provide more descriptive detail about the student experience in that area to fully develop your ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The email is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs for each requirement, and a closing. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Moreover', and 'although' to link ideas. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes a bit mechanical. For example, the transition between the library mention and the rental platforms is abrupt. Improving the use of referencing and varying your cohesive devices would help the text flow more naturally, which is a requirement for higher band scores.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'alumni group', 'affordable options', and 'study environment'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'look after for a room' (should be 'look for' or 'search for') and 'forsure she gonna give you best out of it' (which is too informal and grammatically imprecise). While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your message clearly, incorporating more precise collocations and avoiding informal contractions would improve your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'I almost spent three years' (should be 'I spent almost three years'), 'did fraud on me' (should be 'defrauded me' or 'committed fraud'), and the informal 'gonna'. Punctuation is generally functional, but there are some awkward phrasings that slightly impede the flow. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and using more formal, accurate verb forms in your explanations.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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