Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-11

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 Friend,

I am writing this email to you for giving you piece of advice finding a place to live nearby the university campus.

Firstly, I want to give information about my place when I used to study in the same university where you just get enrolled. The student hostel is just on walking distance from the main campus so you can approach to them they can easily give you an accommodation on the behalf of current student.

Also, there are couple more options available if you want then you can try these. There are some online apps such as kijiji, marketplace, and many more with the help of these apps you can easily find out room for yourself.

Furthermore, one this you have to be very attentive while sending money to the room owners because so many kinds of scams are possible. Before making any commitment regarding a place make sure checked all the lease sign papers and the area you would like to live in.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Lovejeet

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt: describing your previous accommodation, recommending search methods, and providing a warning about potential scams. The tone is appropriate for an email to a friend. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For example, when describing your student hostel, you could have provided more descriptive detail about the facilities or the atmosphere to make the advice more personal and helpful. Similarly, the warning about scams is a bit brief. Expanding on these points with more specific examples or personal anecdotes would help you achieve a higher band score by providing more fully developed ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The email is organized into logical paragraphs, each focusing on one of the required bullet points. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Also', and 'Furthermore' to signal the transition between ideas. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes a bit mechanical, and some transitions feel slightly abrupt. For instance, the transition in the second paragraph ('so you can approach to them they can easily give you') is grammatically awkward and disrupts the flow. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that referencing (e.g., 'them', 'these') is always clear will help improve the overall cohesion of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for this task, such as 'accommodation', 'enrolled', 'commitment', and 'attentive'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation that limit the score. For example, 'on the behalf of current student' is not the correct idiomatic expression, and 'lease sign papers' should be 'lease agreements' or 'signed lease documents'. Additionally, phrases like 'one this you have to be' contain minor errors that slightly affect the naturalness of the language. To improve, focus on learning common collocations related to housing and formalizing your phrasing slightly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'for giving you piece of advice' (should be 'to give you a piece of advice'), 'just on walking distance' (should be 'within walking distance'), and 'make sure checked all the lease' (should be 'make sure to check all the lease'). These errors are noticeable but do not prevent the reader from understanding your message. To reach a higher band, focus on subject-verb agreement, correct preposition usage, and ensuring that verb forms are consistent.

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

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