Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · 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 4.0)

Dear Mr. Smith,

I am writing to you regarding the inconvinience which I'm facing because temperature control system is not working properly.

I recently moved to your apartment, and I'm pursuing computer science in Guru Nanak Girls College. No doubt, apartment is big, and fully furnished. But, I want to share some problems that I'm facing while living in this place, as you know weather is changing, and at night temperature goes down. At this time my rooms are extremely cold, and the sad part part is heating system is not working at all which creates discomfort to me while sleeping. I tried to reach out you but I guess you were busy at that time. I'd appriciate if you take this issue as a serious concern.

I would like to request you to fix this problem as soon as possible, and for the time being, provide portable heaters. It would be really great if you could visit me on Tuesday.

Waiting for your response.

Yours sincerely,

Gurpreet

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 2.0

The response completely fails to address the prompt provided. The task requires writing an email to a friend who has been offered a place at university, describing where the writer lived as a student, recommending ways to look for accommodation, and warning against common mistakes. Instead, the student has written a complaint letter to a landlord (Mr. Smith) regarding a broken temperature control system in an apartment. Because the content is entirely off-topic and fails to cover any of the bullet points specified in the task instructions, it cannot be considered a successful completion of General Training Writing Task 1. Consequently, it must be penalised heavily for task fulfilment, as it addresses a completely different scenario and recipient.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.5

Despite being off-topic for the prompt, the text has a clear beginning and ending structure typical of a formal letter, using paragraphs reasonably well to separate the problem description from the requested actions. The writer uses basic cohesive devices such as 'and', 'but', and 'for the time being', although referencing is occasionally awkward, as seen in 'reach out you' missing a preposition. Paragraphing is visible, separating the main complaint from the call to action and sign-off. However, because the overarching logic and content mismatch the situational requirements of the prompt, the coherence of the piece as an exam response is heavily impacted.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for describing a living situation, employing words such as 'fully furnished', 'discomfort', 'temperature control system', and 'portable heaters'. There are, however, notable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'inconvinience' instead of 'inconvenience' and 'appriciate' instead of 'appreciate'. Additionally, the phrase 'reach out you' lacks the necessary preposition 'to'. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the basic meaning of a complaint to a landlord, the range remains limited and repetitive, preventing the response from reaching higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by 'regarding which', 'as you know', and 'it would be really great if'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors including missing articles ('No doubt, apartment is big', 'heating system is not working'), punctuation issues, and missing prepositions ('reach out you'). There is also a run-on sentence structure in the second paragraph ('At this time my rooms are extremely cold, and the sad part part is heating system is not working at all...'). These errors cause some difficulty for the reader and demonstrate inconsistent control over complex structures.

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

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