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, congratulations to recieved the admission offer from University of Toronto, and I would be more than happy to share some crucial details which could be helpful to you, during your time in university.

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, however if you don,t want to by a car still it is good place to live. It is 2.5 kilometer walking distance from my place.

Moreover, if you want to find near by places for accommodation you might use some online platforms such as FB marketplace and Kijiji. These two are the most popular websites, which provides the flexible user friendly options. By using these you can find house hold essentials as well as flats, rooms by selecting distance and specific cities.

Lasty, I just want to highlight some foolish mistakes made by my fellow students during their stays like choosing places to live in different cities which added extra time to travel, find flats without knowing the hidden charges (utilities, parking charges) it cause burden to manage money. All these factors cause extra mental and financial pressure to you, because you need to manage you course study and pesonal life. I just want to give you quick reminder to be aware and avoid these issues by taking wise deciesions during the time of schooling.

I look forward to your response and you can connet to me for more details or any furhter advice if you need.

Best regards,

Rick

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.5

The candidate successfully covers all bullet points required by the task prompt. Firstly, the email opens by acknowledging the friend's admission and describes where the writer lived during their student days at Stonecrust street, giving distance specifics. Secondly, helpful recommendations are provided regarding online housing platforms such as FB marketplace and Kijiji. Finally, the response warns the friend of typical mistakes made by students, specifically choosing accommodation in distant cities and failing to account for hidden utility or parking charges. The tone is appropriately friendly and informal for a General Training Task 1 email. All parts of the prompt are addressed with relevant and well-developed ideas, fulfilling the requirements for a strong band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The email has a clear overall progression and is organized into logical paragraphs that separate the greeting, past housing description, accommodation recommendations, mistakes to avoid, and closing remarks. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well to connect ideas, such as 'First of all', 'Moreover', and 'Lasty'. However, there are minor cohesion and referencing issues, such as the spelling error 'Lasty' instead of 'Lastly' and some slightly clunky transitions between sentences, such as 'Also, it is convinient to walk, however if you don,t want to by a car still it is good place to live.' Paragraphing is used sufficiently, but paragraph division could be slightly tighter. Overall, the organization is logical and easy to follow throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The candidate demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for an informal recommendation email, including items such as 'admission offer', 'crucial details', 'online platforms', and 'hidden charges'. However, there are several noticeable spelling and word choice inaccuracies, such as 'recieved' instead of 'received', 'convinient' instead of 'convenient', 'by a car' instead of 'buy a car', and 'house hold' instead of 'household'. While these lexical errors do not impede communication, they reflect a lack of precise control over less common vocabulary, placing this response firmly in the band 6 category for lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses and conditional-like constructions ('if you want to find near by places for accommodation you might use some online platforms'). There are, however, several recurring grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text. Examples include comma splices and punctuation slips ('you don,t'), preposition misuse ('to University of Toronto' instead of 'from the University of Toronto'), and verb agreement issues ('it cause burden' instead of 'it causes a burden'). Despite these errors, the meaning is generally clear and communication is rarely impeded. The grammar demonstrates a typical band 6 profile featuring a mix of accurate and faulty complex structures.

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

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