Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-17

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 6.0)

Dear smith,

I hope you are well,

I'm just writing to help you find a new place to live nearby the university so that it is convient for you to travel for study.

When i was student i used to leave in university hostel which they provide us in an discounted offer who are studying in the university with some particular of course which needs to stay near the college because of lecture and partical labs.

I think you should also check the course offer by the university in which they would have mention about this so that you can easily get accommodation. In addittion, this is the best place to stay near the university which have losts of chill area and also some good food nearby.

Lastly, while choosing the accommodation make sure you check weather you want a private or sharing accommodation because if u choose sharing then the other person would be a random one we cannot select your roommate which can cause a problem in future while preparing for exams.

best regards.

DK

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points required by the task. You described your experience in the university hostel, recommended checking the university's official course offers for accommodation guidance, and warned about the potential pitfalls of choosing shared housing with strangers. While the ideas are relevant, they are somewhat underdeveloped. For example, the advice regarding the university's course offer is a bit vague, and the warning about roommates could be more clearly articulated. To improve, try to expand on your personal experiences or provide more specific, practical tips to ensure the reader fully understands your advice. Overall, the tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The email follows a logical progression, moving from your personal experience to recommendations and finally to warnings. You use some basic cohesive devices like 'In addition' and 'Lastly' to link your ideas. However, the paragraphing is inconsistent and the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical. The transition between the introduction and the first body paragraph is abrupt. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of linking words and ensure that each paragraph has a clear, singular focus. Additionally, ensure that your referencing (e.g., 'this', 'which') clearly points back to the intended noun to avoid ambiguity.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. There are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'convient' (convenient), 'partical labs' (practical labs), and 'losts of chill area' (lots of chill areas). These errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your message, but they do highlight a need for more careful proofreading and a broader range of vocabulary. Focus on learning common collocations related to housing and university life to improve the naturalness of your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('which they provide us'), incorrect verb forms ('used to leave' instead of 'used to live'), and punctuation errors, such as missing articles and incorrect comma usage. The use of 'u' instead of 'you' is inappropriate for an email, even an informal one. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors impacts the overall quality of the writing. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for common errors will help improve your score.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.