Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-09
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 5.0)
Dear, Alan.
I heard, that you take offer a place on a cource at the university where i studied, so i want to give you mu advice about finding place to live.Nazarbayev university have studenr accommodation, in first course is the best way to find place, because you wil need adaptation on new place and i will be hard, moreover you will live with your coursmates and find new friends.
When you will move on to the next cours you can rent an apartament, you can devide the rent with your frind and live again with their, with this you will open new opportunities, for example have experients on independent live, wallks to night and e.t.c. You can found appartaments on OLX or Krisha.kz.If you have some problems with money you can stay in accommodation, but you will live with random people on differents courses.In the next year you should find appartoments.
Good luck in university.It's the next part of your life!
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
You have addressed all three bullet points of the task: describing your own experience, recommending a search method, and warning about common mistakes. However, the development of these points is somewhat limited. For instance, the warning about mistakes is vague, mentioning only 'random people' rather than specific pitfalls like hidden costs or poor locations. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend, but the lack of detail in your advice prevents a higher score. To improve, ensure you expand on your suggestions with specific reasons or examples to fully satisfy the task requirements.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The email is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your ideas. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite mechanical and sometimes inaccurate. For example, the transition 'with this you will open new opportunities' is slightly awkward, and the punctuation between sentences is inconsistent, such as missing spaces after periods (e.g., 'university.It's'). The flow of ideas is occasionally interrupted by these mechanical errors, making the text feel a bit disjointed. Using a wider variety of linking words and ensuring correct paragraph breaks would significantly improve the logical progression of your writing.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
Your vocabulary is sufficient to communicate your main points, but it is quite basic and contains several errors in word choice and spelling. Examples include 'cource' instead of 'course', 'studenr' instead of 'student', and 'experients' instead of 'experience'. You also use 'devide' instead of 'divide' and 'appartoments' instead of 'apartments'. While the meaning remains clear, these frequent spelling and collocation errors indicate a limited range of vocabulary. To reach a higher band, focus on learning the correct spelling of common words and using more precise terminology related to housing and student life.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
You demonstrate an ability to use simple sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('Nazarbayev university have'), incorrect verb tenses ('When you will move'), and missing articles or prepositions ('find place', 'on new place'). Additionally, the sentence structure is often repetitive. While the errors do not completely prevent communication, they are frequent enough to cause some difficulty for the reader. Focusing on basic sentence construction, specifically verb tense consistency and the correct use of articles, will help you improve your accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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