Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-13

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 Rick,

First of all congratulation to recieved the offer from University of Toronto, and i would be happy to share some important details which could be helpful to you during your study.

As a student, I used to live inside the city at Stonecrust street which is not too far from the university. Also it is convinient to walk aproximatly 2.5 kilometer walking distance from my place.

Moreover, if you want find to find near by place for accommodation you can use some online platform such as FB marketplace and Kijiji. These two websites provides the flexible user option in which you can find house hold essentials as well as flats and room by selecting distance.

Lasty, I just want to highlight some critical mistakes made my fello students during their time like choosing places to live in different cities, find flats without knowing the hidden charges (utilities,parking charges). All these factors create extra mental and financial pressure to you so please take wise deciesions during your stay.

Best regards

Rick

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response effectively covers all bullet points required by the prompt. You successfully described where you lived as a student by mentioning 'Stonecrust street which is not too far from the university' and noting the convenient walking distance. You also recommended specific online platforms such as 'FB marketplace and Kijiji' for finding accommodation, and provided a clear warning regarding potential pitfalls, such as 'choosing places to live in different cities' and 'hidden charges'. The tone is appropriately informal and friendly, fitting the letter format, and all parts of the task are well-developed and easy to follow. Therefore, this performance aligns comfortably with the Band 7 level descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The email has a clear logical organisation, moving smoothly from the opening greeting and congratulations to the description of your past accommodation, followed by recommendations and finally warnings. You use transitional markers like 'First of all', 'Also', 'Moreover', and 'Lasty' to guide the reader through your points, though some cohesive devices are a bit mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different ideas. While referencing is mostly clear, a minor slip occurs at the end of the letter where you sign off with 'Best regards Rick' instead of your own name, which causes slight confusion since the letter was written TO Rick. Overall, the structural progression is clear and earns a solid Band 6.5 to 7.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and specific collocations such as 'online platform', 'household essentials', 'hidden charges', and 'financial pressure'. However, there are some noticeable word choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'convieint' instead of convenient, 'aproximatly', 'Lasty' instead of lastly, and the awkward phrasing 'want find to find near by place'. Furthermore, the phrase 'congratulation to recieved' contains a grammatical form error affecting lexical control. These errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the vocabulary score from reaching higher bands. This performance reflects the Band 6 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as using relative clauses ('Stonecrust street which is not too far') and conditional elements ('if you want find to find near by place'). However, there are several grammatical errors scattered throughout the text. For instance, 'congratulation to recieved' contains a noun form error and an incorrect infinitive/participle structure, 'want find to find' is repetitive and grammatically confused, and 'made my fello students' should be 'made by fellow students'. Preposition and article usage could also be improved. Although these errors do not stop the reader from understanding your message, they occur frequently enough to place your grammatical accuracy firmly at Band 6.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.