Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-19

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 Raman,

I am pleased to heard about that you will come Cnada for higher education and also choose same university where I studied. I live in Surrey now from when I came Canada and started my study. Although, university is far away from living area but there is no any difficulty due to effective transport system.

I want to give advice regarding to look accommodation. There are scam can be seen in this nation during pay rent and other types of paying so be avoid and always chhose area where is transport near home as well as look the neighbours nature. Apart from this, I recommend you that you take private room on rent as compared to share room because argument between sharing person oftenlycan be seen.

I want to warn you before choosing area for living as most of the students do mistake to choose wrong place where theft people live near as they can see only low rent not see location where it is .

I hope you pay attention on my advice and follow during choose accommondation.best wishes from me for coming Canada and I will ready to help any time .

Yours faithfully,

Gurpreet

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response covers all three bullet points required by the prompt. First, the writer describes where they lived ('I live in Surrey now...'). Second, they recommend the best way to look for accommodation ('take private room on rent as compared to share room'). Third, they warn of mistakes ('most of the students do mistake to choose wrong place where theft people live'). All parts of the prompt are addressed, though the ideas are somewhat limited and lack full development due to frequent grammatical and lexical interference. The tone is appropriate for an informal email to a friend, but the overall development falls within the Band 5 descriptor range where ideas are limited and under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter is organised into clear paragraphs with an appropriate opening ('Dear Raman,') and closing ('Yours faithfully, Gurpreet'). However, the logical progression is frequently disrupted by awkward transitions and unclear referencing. For instance, phrases like 'Apart from this, I recommend you...' and 'I want to warn you before choosing area...' are somewhat mechanical. Cohesive devices are occasionally inadequate or incorrectly used, as seen with 'oftenlycan be seen' and disjointed sentence connections. Paragraphing is present and helps separate distinct ideas, supporting a score at the Band 5 level.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, frequently impeded by word-choice and collocation errors. Examples include 'pleased to heard about that', 'Cnada', 'living area' instead of residential area, and 'theft people' instead of criminals or people involved in crime. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'effective transport system' and 'private room on rent', but these attempts are marred by noticeable errors like 'chhose area' and 'paying rent and other types of paying'. These errors cause some difficulty for the reader, aligning the lexical range with Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text displays a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple sentences with frequent errors in complex structures. There are numerous basic grammatical inaccuracies throughout the text, such as tense and verb form errors ('I am pleased to heard', 'do you will come', 'since when I came Canada'), missing prepositions ('look accommodation'), and word order issues ('arguments between sharing person oftenlycan be seen'). Punctuation is also erratic with spacing issues around commas and periods. These frequent errors cause strain and difficulty for the reader, placing this response firmly in Band 4.5 to 5.0; a score of 5.0 is awarded as meaning is generally communicated despite the flaws.

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

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