Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-24

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 6.5)

Dear Sam,

How're you? Long time no see but now I'm delighted that you offered a place at Mohawk university which is bit closer to my place.

When I joined this university, I lived at 453 Moron Street, which is approximately 5 to 6 kilometers from college. The place was in the centre of city near to the college and all amenities which saved my commuting time.

I would suggest you to search on Facebook market place. It's simple to use, simply search the area where you want to live and your budget, then it shows you all the listings in that area which suits you.

However, be careful while choosing accommodation; make sure only transfer rent once you visited the renting unit and confirmed, because many time people run fake advertisements just to do fraud with new commers. Many students did this mistake that they just transfer the rent beforehand without having look at the unit and later when they reached at the address, they didn't find the person with the name they were chating.

Hope this information helps you in taking the right decision and see you soon.

With love

Navdeep

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response successfully covers all three bullet points required by the prompt. First, you clearly described where you lived when you were a student by mentioning 453 Moron Street and its convenient distance of 5 to 6 kilometers from the college. Second, you gave a practical recommendation to use Facebook Marketplace to search for housing by filtering areas and budgets. Third, you effectively warned your friend about fake advertisements and scammers who ask for rent transfers before viewing the property. The tone of the email is friendly, informal, and appropriate for writing to a friend, maintaining a clear purpose throughout. All parts of the task are well-developed and fully addressed, earning a solid band score.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The email has a clear logical organization and progression throughout. It opens with an appropriate greeting, transitions smoothly through your past living situation, your recommendations, and your warnings, and concludes with a warm sign-off. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, with each paragraph focusing on a distinct idea or bullet point. Cohesive devices and referencing are generally handled well, such as using 'The place was' and 'However, be careful', though some transitional phrasing could be slightly more natural. Overall, the flow makes the letter very easy to read and follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, allowing for some flexibility and precision. You successfully use less common items and task-appropriate collocations such as 'amenities', 'commuting time', 'renting unit', and 'fake advertisements'. However, there are a few lexical inaccuracies and non-idiomatic expressions, such as 'offered a place' (instead of 'offered a place on a course' or just 'accepted'), 'market place' (usually one word: Marketplace), and 'do fraud with new commers' (should be 'commit fraud against newcomers'). Despite these occasional errors, the vocabulary is adequate to communicate your ideas clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, successfully using relative clauses like 'which is approximately 5 to 6 kilometers from college' and conditional structures. However, there are several grammatical errors and punctuation slips present throughout the text. Examples include 'How're you?' (informal contraction, though acceptable in a friendly email, followed by 'that you offered a place' instead of 'that you were offered a place'), 'only transfer rent once you visited' (tense mismatch: 'have visited' or 'visit'), and 'Many students did this mistake' (collocation error: 'made this mistake'). Additionally, 'chating' is misspelled with one 't'. While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the grammar score from reaching a higher band.

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

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