Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-15

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 5.0)

Dear Amna,

i hope you will be fine . I know that you complete your intermediate and now you want to get admission a good university . I will also advice you that you get the admission's in superior university its a good institute for get an excellent grade. I will also recommend to you this university. when ilI was student of the university I was lived in a Sufi city hostal it was very best for me and I was faced not any troubles there . its was excellent according my wealth.

I am also recommend you that you should live there .You can easily came in the college daily and you faced no any tranceport issues.

I clearly know that many students do mistake in choosing for living place. They choose these olace where they have no any facilities and many other problems.They can't manig there easily . I sure that they payed a lot farwof the managers.They were always reached lat in the university because they faced many problems such as tranceport problems, electricity problems and to much noise . They get lat always from the University and mixed there important classes .I will also advice you that you should live in sufi city hostal its very good and it also have many other benefits.

your loving,

Ayesha Nawaz,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all three bullet points required by the prompt, though the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. The student describes where they lived ('Sufi city hostal'), recommends the accommodation and how to look for it, and warns about common mistakes such as lack of facilities and long commutes. However, the tone is consistently informal and slightly wandering. The position is clear, but the ideas are not fully elaborated and contain tangential advice regarding university admissions that goes beyond the prompt's scope. Overall, it addresses the main requirements satisfactorily, fitting best into the Band 5.0 to 6.0 range. While all bullet points are mentioned, the lack of depth and uneven focus point towards a Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The email has some basic organisation, utilizing paragraph breaks to separate the main points. However, the progression of ideas is often disjointed, and the cohesive devices used are inadequate, repetitive, or inaccurate (for example, the excessive use of 'I will also' and abrupt transitions between sentences). Paragraphing is attempted, but paragraphs tend to run together in terms of cohesive flow. Referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly with pronouns ('They can't manig there easily . I sure that they payed a lot farwof the managers'). While the overall message can be followed, the structural management of cohesion is noticeably faulty, corresponding to a Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, with frequent spelling errors that occasionally impede understanding (e.g., 'hostal', 'tranceport', 'manig', 'farwof', 'lat'). The student attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'admission' and 'facilities', but word choice and collocation are frequently inaccurate ('get admission a good university', 'faced not any troubles'). The range is limited and minimally adequate for the task, with noticeable errors causing some difficulty for the reader. This performance aligns closely with the Band 5.0 descriptors for Lexical Resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is weak. There are frequent errors in tense usage, word order, and punctuation (e.g., erratic spacing around punctuation marks, 'when ilI was student', 'I was lived', 'You can easily came'). Complex structures are often faulty, and basic grammatical rules are regularly broken. While meaning can usually be deciphered, the high frequency of errors causes significant difficulty and prevents the writing from reaching a Band 6.0. The overall control of grammar is most consistent with a Band 5.0.

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

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