Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Dear Sweta,

I hope you are doing well. First of all, congratulation for getting selected in the Mcghill university. I am writing in response of your letter that I got last week regarding the accommodation at the university.

Mcghill is a highly prestigious university in existence for decades. It has sophisticated accommodation facilities within and outside the campus. I studied and lived four years in the university in-campus hostel called Robert wing. It is a magnificently design building with all the necessary amenities ranging from high-speed Wi-Fi connection to ensuite washrooms and laundry units. It home mainly PhD. students, therefore, it is fairly quiet and a perfect place for self-study.

Many students try to book rooms in the Robert wing way in prior to admission, so I would suggest you to be quick and fill the application with the advance deposit as soon as the process starts. If you liked, I could recommend you for the hostel as I have still preserved some connections in the management staff of the university.

I would also like to give you a word of advice. Please don't fall for the hostels outside the campus; they look attractive given their location which is close the downtown but are poorly maintained and managed.

I wish you the best for you search and you are free to contact me if you need any further information.

Kind regards,

Nishant Shrivastava

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You described your past living situation at the Robert wing, provided a clear recommendation for the application process, and included a warning about off-campus housing. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend, and the purpose is clear throughout. To reach a higher band, ensure you provide more specific details or personal anecdotes to fully develop your ideas, as some points, such as the warning about off-campus housing, could be expanded with more descriptive reasoning to make the advice feel more personal and comprehensive.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The email is logically organized with clear paragraphing, each focusing on a specific requirement of the task. You use transition signals like 'First of all' and 'I would also like to give you' to guide the reader. However, some cohesive devices are slightly mechanical or repetitive. For instance, the transition between the description of the hostel and the advice could be smoother. Additionally, ensure that referencing is always clear; for example, 'the university' is used frequently, and varying your sentence structure would help improve the flow of ideas between paragraphs.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate a good range of vocabulary, using terms like 'prestigious', 'sophisticated', and 'amenities' appropriately. There are some minor errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'congratulation for getting selected' (should be 'congratulations on being accepted') and 'way in prior to' (should be 'well in advance of'). While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more precise control over idiomatic expressions. Expanding your use of less common collocations would help elevate your writing to a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures effectively. However, there are several grammatical slips, such as 'Mcghill university' (should be 'McGill University'), 'magnificently design building' (should be 'magnificently designed'), and 'close the downtown' (should be 'close to the downtown'). These errors are frequent enough to prevent a higher score but do not cause confusion. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and preposition usage. Increasing the variety of complex structures, such as using more conditional or relative clauses, would also demonstrate greater grammatical control.

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

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