Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-23
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 Gianna,
I am writing this letter to you to provide small but usefull suggetions about where to live and what to do and don't.
I am very grateful that you got an offer from University of Alberta as you know it is in the top 5 best Canadian university.
When I was a student at UofA I used to live in the North-West side because I was enrolled city campus and it took only 15 minutes to reach there via LRT services.
If I would recommend a place to you, I would suggest to live near Southgate LRT station there are plenty of affordable apartments and houses available. It will benefits you when it's snowing. You have to just go through via Southgate Mall and there is the ETS and LRT stattions where you will find range of buses that covers different streets and avenues.
I know you grew up in metro city and you likes to live in downtown side but there are plenty of activities and events are going on every day. These might be difficult for you to study because of lots of noise can erritate you.
I hope you will find this letter helpful and all the best for you studies.
Best regards,
Krish
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses all three bullet points required by the prompt. You described your past living situation, recommended a specific area, and provided a warning regarding the distractions of downtown living. However, the development of these points is somewhat limited. For instance, the warning about downtown living is a bit vague and could have been more effectively linked to the specific challenges of student life. While the tone is appropriate for an email to a friend, the content could be expanded with more specific details to fully satisfy the requirements of a higher band score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The email is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your ideas. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'When I was a student' and 'If I would recommend', to link your thoughts. However, the flow between sentences is occasionally mechanical, and some transitions feel abrupt. For example, the jump from discussing the North-West side to recommending Southgate could be smoother. Additionally, the use of referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the sentence 'It will benefits you when it's snowing', where the antecedent for 'it' is slightly ambiguous.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.0
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'enrolled', 'affordable', and 'accommodation'. However, there are several spelling errors ('usefull', 'suggetions', 'stattions', 'erritate') and minor collocation issues, such as 'do and don't' (should be 'dos and don'ts') and 'in the top 5 best Canadian university' (should be 'universities'). While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more careful proofreading and a wider range of precise vocabulary to reach a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as the conditional 'If I would recommend...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('you likes to live', 'there are plenty of activities... are going on'), incorrect verb forms ('It will benefits you'), and awkward phrasing ('I am writing this letter to you to provide...'). While the meaning remains clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar prevent the response from reaching a higher band. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and verb tense consistency would significantly improve your writing.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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