Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-27

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 Ram,

when i got your letter finally you will be a part of Punjabi University, I feel proud on you. It is not an easy task to get a admission in university as a master level. I would advise you, you can apply for a hostel, it is depend upon the rank which you got in your entrance exam. Secondly, in the main gate of the university there are some private rooms available on the cheaper price. I recommend you can choose one of them because in the summer time, the outside temperature increasing, these all private room has air conditioner. when I was student in this university, i lived in the private room because there is good ventilation as well it was near by my department. Most of the student make some mistake while looking a living area. Sometime they find a space too far from university because the price is too low as compared to private room or hostel.

According to me, find a space which is convenience to your class room as well library. You do not need any type of private transport. And in the private room there is no disturbance you can easily complete your homework.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt: describing your past accommodation, recommending a way to find housing, and warning about common mistakes. The tone is appropriate for an email to a friend. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For example, the warning about mistakes is a bit vague, and the advice could be more specific regarding how to actually search (e.g., mentioning websites or student forums). To improve, try to expand on your points with more descriptive detail or personal anecdotes to fully meet the requirements of a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The email is generally easy to follow, and you use some basic cohesive devices like 'Secondly' and 'According to me'. However, the paragraphing is weak; the entire body of the email is presented as one large block of text, which makes it difficult to read. You should use clear paragraph breaks to separate the different points (the description, the recommendation, and the warning). Additionally, some transitions are a bit mechanical or unnatural, such as 'According to me' to introduce an opinion, which is better expressed as 'In my opinion' or 'I would suggest'.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, but it lacks variety and precision. You rely on basic terms like 'good', 'cheap', and 'mistake'. There are also some issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'get a admission' (should be 'get admission') and 'convenience to your class room' (should be 'convenient to your classroom'). To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more specific vocabulary related to housing, such as 'amenities', 'proximity', 'commute', or 'lease agreements'. You also need to be more careful with word forms, such as using 'convenient' (adjective) instead of 'convenience' (noun).

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text that occasionally impede flow. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('these all private room has' should be 'these private rooms have'), article usage ('in the main gate' should be 'at the main gate'), and sentence structure. You rely mostly on simple sentences, and your attempts at complex structures often contain errors, such as 'when i got your letter finally you will be a part of...'. You need to focus on basic accuracy, particularly with pluralization and verb tenses, before attempting more complex sentence structures.

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

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