Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-14
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 Raman,
I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to do help you about accommodation. I remember when i was student what kind of problems, I was faced so I don't want you faced same difficulties. I lived Vancouver during my study but i would recommend to you find accommodation in Surrey.
Additionally, why i am suggesting Surrey there so many reason behind it, firstly It is more cheaper than Vancouver. secondly, you can easily find best accommodation in suitable budget. Most important you can find all facilities in front of door such as; grocery store, transportation etc. Now question is how to find it, you can find by market place, everything available on there.
Last but not least, what kind of mistakes you avoid, to start with common mistake, student find cheap accommodation which are far from sky station they tackles many problems related with buses. So, you should avoid this one always find accommodation near sky station.
I hope this letter help you and if need any other help please call me, I am always available for you.
Beat wishes.
Jashan.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses all three bullet points of the prompt: describing your past living situation, recommending a search method, and warning against common mistakes. The tone is appropriate for an email to a friend. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the description of where you lived is very brief, and the advice on how to search (mentioning 'market place') is vague. To improve, you should provide more specific details or personal anecdotes to fully develop your points, which would help you reach a higher band score by demonstrating a more thorough engagement with the task requirements.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The email is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your points. You use some cohesive devices like 'firstly', 'secondly', and 'to start with' to signal the structure. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes disjointed due to grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'Now question is how to find it'. The use of punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of semicolons and commas. Improving the transition between ideas and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear, unified focus would enhance the overall coherence of your writing.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to communicate your message clearly, such as 'accommodation', 'facilities', and 'transportation'. However, there are several instances of unnatural word choice and collocation errors, such as 'do help you about', 'in front of door', and 'tackles many problems'. These errors occasionally make the text sound less natural. To improve, focus on learning common collocations (words that naturally go together) and avoid literal translations from your first language. Expanding your vocabulary to include more precise adjectives and verbs will also help you express your ideas with greater accuracy.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Common issues include missing articles ('I was student'), incorrect verb tenses ('I was faced'), and subject-verb agreement errors ('there so many reason'). Additionally, there are punctuation errors, such as the misuse of semicolons and capitalization issues. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to affect the clarity of your writing. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement and article usage will significantly improve your accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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