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 got 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 convenient 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 to find rental appartments with authentic pictures. 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 mention some foolish mistakes made by my fellow disciples during their stays like choosing places to live in different cities. This added extra time of transportation, find flats without analysing the hidden charges (utilities, parking charges) it causes extra burden to manage day to day expanses. All these factors put more strain to your pocket and psychological well-being, because you need to manage you course study and pesonal life. I just want to give you quick reminder to be aware to avoid these issues by taking wise deciesions during the time of schooling.

I look forward to your response and you can connect through call for more details or any furhter advice if you need.

Best regards,

Rick

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the prompt in a natural and friendly tone. You clearly described your former student accommodation ('inside the city at Stonecrust street'), recommended practical online platforms for finding a place ('FB marketplace and Kijiji'), and successfully warned against common mistakes such as choosing places in different cities and failing to account for hidden charges like utilities and parking. The tone is appropriate for an informal email to a friend, and the purpose of the message is fully achieved without any major omissions.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The email is logically organised into clear paragraphs, each serving a distinct purpose corresponding to the bullet points in the prompt. You make good use of transitional markers and cohesive devices such as 'First of all', 'Moreover', and 'Lasty' to guide the reader smoothly through your advice. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different topics. While referencing and referencing pronouns are generally clear, occasional awkward phrasing in transitions stops this from reaching a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate and functional range of vocabulary suitable for a general task. Words and phrases like 'crucial details', 'walking distance', 'authentic pictures', and 'psychological well-being' show a good attempt at incorporating less common lexical items. However, there are some noticeable vocabulary and spelling errors, such as 'by a car' instead of 'buy a car', 'near by' instead of 'nearby', 'appartments', 'Lasty', 'house hold', 'expanses' instead of 'expenses', and 'deciesions'. These errors do not impede overall communication but prevent a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses ('which could be helpful') and conditional constructions. However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward structures throughout the text, including 'congratulations to got the admission offer' (instead of 'on getting'), 'if you don,t want to by a car', and 'This added extra time of transportation, find flats' (parallelism and tense consistency issues). Punctuation errors also occur, such as comma splices and incorrect comma placement. These errors occasionally cause strain for the reader.

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

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