Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-16
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 5.5)
Dear Josh,
I hope your in good health. I am writing to guide you about your current education jurney in the university and let you know about the best way which can help you to locate a convinient accommodation during your couse.
In regrding my time. I stayed in hostel which was provided by my university, which has given enough time to explore the new city as well as provided me convinient space close to my classroom as well as faciliated me with fresh food omn the daily basis.
To find the best room in the hostel, I recommed you to move prior to your course actually begin which will help to choose your preferable room before it booked fully. Moreover, I would suggest you to move 1 mounth before your in person class starts as well as pay the hostel fee immidiately so that you can able reserve it.
Thankyou
I hope you can benifited from my real experience.
Vikrant
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The student has successfully covered all parts of the task prompt. First, the writer described where they lived as a student by mentioning that they stayed in a university-provided hostel, which offered proximity to classrooms and daily meals. Second, they recommended the best way to look for accommodation, advising Josh to move prior to the course beginning. Third, they warned him of potential mistakes by suggesting he secure his room early to avoid it being fully booked. The tone is appropriate for an informal email to a friend. All bullet points are addressed clearly, and the ideas are adequately supported, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor for Task Achievement.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The email has a coherent overall arrangement and follows an appropriate layout with a standard greeting and sign-off. Paragraphing is used, separating the introduction, the personal experience body paragraph, and the recommendation/warning section. However, there are some flaws in cohesion and sentence boundaries. For instance, sentences like 'I stayed in hostel which was provided by my university, which has given enough time...' demonstrate faulty and repetitive relative clause referencing. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or lacking smooth transitions. Overall, the logical progression is generally clear despite minor mechanical issues, fitting a Band 6 level.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, though it contains noticeable spelling and word choice errors. Examples of spelling and lexical errors include 'jurney' instead of journey, 'convinient' instead of convenient, 'couse' instead of course, 'regrding' instead of regarding, 'faciliated' instead of facilitated, 'omn' instead of on, 'recommed' instead of recommend, 'mounth' instead of month, 'immidiately' instead of immediately, 'Thankyou' instead of Thank you, and 'benifited' instead of benefited. Despite these frequent spelling inaccuracies, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, matching the requirements for Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as relative clauses ('hostel which was provided by my university') and conditional or temporal clauses ('move prior to your course actually begin'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('your in good health' instead of you're/you are), tense inconsistencies ('has given' instead of gave), and missing auxiliary verbs ('so that you can able reserve it' instead of so that you will be able to reserve it). These errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar performance firmly at Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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