Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-18

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 friend,

I am really glad to hear that you recieved the offer letter from KPU university. Congratulations ! I am writing to give you some advice about finding accomodation.

When I was student at the university, I lived in a basement near the university at 128 street newton. It was one bedroom basement, I particularly liked it because it is cheaper than house. Additionally, you get you private entrance, room, bathroom and kitchen. Moreover, it was near the sky train station which made my life easier.

As for finding accomodation, I would recommend facebook. You can check all the listings on market place and send them message personally. It is usually the easiest method to find a place to live. You Another platform is instagram. You could follow some accounts such as KPU de heerey and KPU accomodation in order to get updates for on recent listings. I would suggest facebook because it is faster and easiest as you can directly send them message and ask for more details.

However, there are few mistakes that you should avoid. Firstly, you have to make sure that you sending message to a genuine person on facebook because there are various fake accounts present. Make sure the person has uploaded the listing before and as well as the profile should be at least five years old. Make sure the accomodation is neither for from the university nor from sky train station. I would recomment choosing convenient location in order to save time for commuting.

I hope you find this advice useful. Please let me know if you need any more help.

Your friend-

Raj.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You described your previous living situation, recommended Facebook and Instagram as platforms for searching, and provided specific warnings regarding fake accounts and location convenience. The tone is appropriate for an email to a friend, and the purpose of the letter is clear throughout. To improve, ensure that your ideas are fully developed; for instance, while you mention the basement was 'cheaper than house', adding a specific detail about the cost or the benefit of the privacy would have added more depth to your response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The email is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each focusing on a specific requirement of the task. You use a range of cohesive devices such as 'Additionally', 'Moreover', 'As for', and 'However' to link your ideas. While the progression is generally smooth, there are some minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the sentence 'You Another platform is instagram', which contains a typo and a slightly awkward transition. Overall, the paragraphing is sufficient and the message is easy to follow from start to finish.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for this task, using terms like 'listings', 'convenient location', and 'commuting'. However, there are several spelling errors, such as 'recieved', 'accomodation' (repeatedly misspelled), and 'recomment'. Additionally, some word choices are slightly unnatural, such as 'KPU de heerey' or 'neither for from'. To reach a higher band, focus on accurate spelling of common words and try to incorporate more precise collocations, such as 'scam artists' instead of 'fake accounts' or 'proximity to' instead of 'near'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'When I was student' (missing article), 'you get you private entrance' (incorrect pronoun), and 'make sure that you sending message' (incorrect verb form). While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede the overall meaning of your email. To improve, pay closer attention to subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures while maintaining accuracy will help you achieve a higher score.

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

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