Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-18

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 Sara,

i hope you are doing well .i just read your email and i would to guaid you in the selection of a good accommodation. when i was studying at this university, I lived 2 kilometres away from my campus near the bank.the first thing about this place i would like to tell you that the public library is near to it across the road. Secondly, beside the library there is a bookshop and a photo copier.the best way to select the accommodation for university students is to see the area where these facilities are available easily .

usully students do one mistake they select the are which is away from the university in peaceful environment. This point is good, but the facilities the students need the most are those which I mentioned above .So these are my suggestion if you find a room in this area go ahead and book it.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all three bullet points required by the task prompt. The student successfully describes their previous accommodation ('lived 2 kilometres away from my campus near the bank'), recommends the best way to search ('see the area where these facilities are available easily'), and warns against a common mistake ('students do one mistake they select the are which is away from the university in peaceful environment'). However, the ideas are presented in a somewhat simplistic and brief manner, lacking full development and extension. For instance, the recommendation and warning are tightly bound to a single personal perspective without elaborating on other practical housing options or search methods. Overall, all parts are addressed, placing this submission comfortably at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The email has a coherent overall arrangement, and the progression of ideas is generally logical as the writer moves from personal experience to recommendations and finally to warnings. However, paragraphing is poorly handled, with almost the entire body of the email crammed into a single block of text instead of distinct paragraphs for each bullet point. Furthermore, cohesive devices are somewhat mechanical or missing entirely, relying on basic transitions like 'Secondly' and 'So'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the sudden shift into the warning. While the letter flows adequately for a social message, the lack of proper paragraphing and limited cohesive range restrict the score to Band 5.5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic information about living arrangements, amenities like a 'bookshop and a photo copier', and the university environment. There are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, such as 'guaid' instead of 'guide', 'usully' instead of 'usually', and 'are' instead of 'area'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with some inaccuracy, and collocations are occasionally unnatural. Nevertheless, the lexical range is sufficient to convey the intended message without causing severe misunderstanding, matching the criteria for a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'when i was studying at this university, I lived 2 kilometres away...' and 'the first thing about this place i would like to tell you that...'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak. There are frequent punctuation and capitalization errors, such as lowercase 'i' used as a personal pronoun, missing commas, and missing capital letters at the beginning of sentences. Additionally, there are structural errors like 'would to guaid' and 'students do one mistake they select'. Because these errors occur frequently throughout the short text and cause some difficulty, the performance aligns with Band 5.0.

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

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