Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-20

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 6.0)

Dear friend,

I hope you are doing well. I recently received your email where you told me about the offer you received to study at the same university i studied in. Firstly, i would like to congratulate you as it is a huge achievement and quite a diffuclt task. I would really like to help you choose where to live peacefully.

When i was studying there, i used to live inside my university as it is far more convenient than living outside because my bills were covered as well as i did not spend a substantial amount on food because that was also provided by the university. However, if i wanted to go out so that depended on myself for the extra cost.

One thing that you should keep in mind is your convenience and budget. If you live inside the uni so it is quite expensive at one side because you will have to pay the rent altogether not in installments. If that seems possible and feasible for you so i highly recommend going for it as it would make you more confortable due to the helpfulness of the staff and it would give you an opportunity to make new friends as well. Moreover, there are some scams as well that you need to look out for because sometimes people charge you more than you should who act ad the representative. My advice is to go to the university and look out for the available options intead of relying on these people.

In addition to that, there are some minor mistakes to look out for such as choosing a very minimal room instead of a huge room because the prices are the same and they do not tell this to students. You also need to ask them to provide food because it is available there but they like to keep it confidential so people do not bring their friends. However, one crucial thing is that do not let the staff go into your room without your permission as there have been some reports of theft as well.

I hope this helped you decide and i will be lookong forward to your response. Take good care. Thanks and regards.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student covers all parts of the task well. The response successfully describes where the writer lived as a student by mentioning living inside the university with bills and food covered. It recommends the best way to look for accommodation, advising the friend to visit the university directly rather than relying on unverified representatives. Finally, it warns the friend of specific mistakes, such as choosing a minimal room when larger ones cost the same, keeping food arrangements secret, and avoiding unauthorized staff entry due to theft risks. The tone is appropriately informal and friendly throughout, and all bullet points from the prompt are fully developed and addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The email has a clear logical progression and is organised into appropriate paragraphs. Each paragraph focuses on a distinct idea, starting with the greeting and congratulations, moving to the past living situation, giving advice and warnings, and concluding warmly. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'However', 'Moreover', and 'In addition to that' are used to connect ideas, although some referencing and conjunctions feel slightly repetitive or conversational, such as starting clauses with 'so'. Paragraphing is sufficient and appropriate for an informal letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a general task, attempting some less common phrases such as 'substantial amount', 'feasible', and 'confidential'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, including lowercase 'i' instead of 'I', 'diffuclt' instead of 'difficult', 'intead' instead of 'instead', and 'lookong' instead of 'looking'. Despite these inaccuracies, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning without impeding communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues, particularly run-on sentences connected by 'so' (e.g., 'If you live inside the uni so it is quite expensive...'). There are also capitalization errors with personal pronouns ('i') and minor collocation slips. While these errors occur regularly, they rarely impede overall communication.

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

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