Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-28

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 Ann,

Hope this letter finds you well. I am thrilled to hear that you were offered admission in the same university where i studied optometry, it was a great experience for me because it was both challenging and rewarding.

During my six years of studying, my first year was when i stayed in the school hostel because it was made compulsory for all the first year students while from the second year, i got an apartment around the old Clarks quarters through an agent.

I would advice that should stay in the accommodation provided for the new intakes while keeping in view of the best possible location, i will recommend that you stay in any lodge around Clarks quarter this is because there is constant electricity.

On the cause of looking for you apartment, please beware of some older students that usually claim they are accommodation agents they are very easy to recognize them as they will pressure you into paying on time to secure accommodation that they have not even showed you. always feel free to reach out to me for any other clarification.

once again congratulation on your admission.

Yours throughly,

Ebuak

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed all three bullet points of the task: describing your past living situation, recommending a search method, and warning about potential pitfalls. The tone is appropriate for an informal email to a friend. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For example, while you mention the school hostel and Clarks quarters, the description could be more vivid to help your friend visualize the experience. The warning about 'older students' is relevant and well-integrated. To improve, ensure that each point is expanded with slightly more detail to fully satisfy the 'well-developed' criteria for higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The email follows a logical progression, moving from the greeting to the description, recommendations, and warnings. Paragraphing is present, though the transition between the recommendation and the warning is a bit abrupt. You use some cohesive devices like 'this is because' and 'once again', but the flow is occasionally hindered by run-on sentences and comma splices, such as in the paragraph regarding the warning about older students. Improving the use of linking words and punctuation would help the ideas connect more smoothly and enhance the overall readability of the letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your message clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'accommodation', 'admission', and 'optometry'. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'on the cause of looking for you apartment' (should be 'in the course of looking for your apartment') and 'Yours throughly' (should be 'Yours sincerely' or 'Best wishes'). To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more natural collocations and ensure that your closing salutation is standard for an informal letter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that occasionally affect the flow. Common issues include capitalization errors (e.g., 'i' instead of 'I'), subject-verb agreement, and run-on sentences where independent clauses are joined only by commas. For instance, 'they are very easy to recognize them as they will pressure you' is grammatically awkward. While these errors do not prevent communication, they are frequent enough to limit your score. Focusing on sentence boundaries and basic proofreading for capitalization would significantly improve your accuracy.

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

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