Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-22

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 Ali,

I hope you are doing good. It's been a long time since we last spoke.

I came to know about your marvelous achievement. Extremely happy for you, finally you nailed it.

I'm writing here to give you a couple of ideas that you might consider while selecting your accommodation. That I learned from my experience when I was in this situation.

Firstly, make sure your apartment is near to your university as it will save your commuting time. My residence was approximately at thirty minutes apart at Al Hawai building. I used to take local transportation. But it was convenient for me because my flat was at 2 minutes' walk from bus station and Bus dropped off me near gate # 3 of university.

I would recommend you search your accommodation by using property apps such as Property finder. You will find numerous options, choose according to your feasibility and affordability.

Additionally, do not make long term agreement initially. Once you will become stable, then you can extend or relocate if not adjustable.

I hope you will get out of this situation soon. If you need any help give me a hand. I'm here to help you.

Best wishes,

xyz

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You described your past living situation, recommended a method for finding accommodation, and provided a warning about long-term agreements. The tone is appropriate for an email to a friend, maintaining a friendly and informal register throughout. The ideas are relevant and clearly presented, fulfilling the requirements of the task effectively. To reach a higher band, you could expand slightly more on the 'warning' section to provide more specific context or personal insight, which would further develop the response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The email is logically organized with clear paragraphing. You use transition signals such as 'Firstly', 'Additionally', and 'Once' to guide the reader through your points. However, some of the cohesive devices are slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with sentence-level cohesion, such as the sentence fragment 'That I learned from my experience...' which should ideally be connected to the previous sentence. Improving the flow between these ideas would enhance the overall coherence of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'feasibility', 'affordability', and 'commuting'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'Bus dropped off me' (should be 'The bus dropped me off') and 'get out of this situation' (which sounds slightly unnatural in this context). While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, incorporating more precise collocations and idiomatic expressions would help you achieve a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'I came to know about' (a bit wordy), 'near to your university' (should be 'near your university'), and 'Once you will become stable' (the future tense is unnecessary after 'once'). Additionally, there are punctuation and article errors, such as 'at 2 minutes' walk from bus station' (should be 'a 2-minute walk from the bus station'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to limit the score.

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

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