Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Dear Alex,

I hope you are doing well. I'm very excited to know for your admission in your dream university. I'm more than happy to assist you regarding accommodation process.

I still remembered my accommodation during school life. I lived two months at a college accommodation and it was highly expensive as compared normal apartments which were nearby from the university, so after that I was decided to move to one bedroom apartment which was quit cheap and comfortable.

I think best way to find a affordable place is to search on marketplace such as Facebook and local online groups. You just have to drop a interest message and than they will contact you back, and you can visit the accommodation as well as discuss the cost.

One important thing, I did a one mistake while finding the apartment, I transferred money to one person through online for accommodation before meet him in-person because he was a scammer. So be aware about this thing and don't transfer any payment before any in-person meeting.

Best of luck for your college life,

Sim.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions effectively. You successfully describe where you lived as a student by mentioning your initial stay in expensive college accommodation followed by a cheaper one-bedroom apartment. You also recommend the best way to find accommodation by suggesting platforms like Facebook marketplace and local online groups. Furthermore, you provide a clear and cautionary warning about avoiding online scams and transferring money before an in-person meeting, drawing on your own personal mistake. The tone is suitably friendly and semi-formal, appropriate for writing to a friend. All parts of the prompt are addressed adequately, and the ideas are developed logically to suit the general training task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The email has a clear overall arrangement and follows a logical progression, moving naturally from the greeting and congratulations to your past living experience, your recommendations, and finally your warning. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate each distinct point, making the text easy to navigate. However, some cohesive devices and referencing are occasionally mechanical or slightly awkward, such as in the sentence 'You just have to drop a interest message and than they will contact you back'. Additionally, transitional links between sentences could be smoother in places. Despite these minor issues, the communication flows well and maintains a coherent structure throughout the entire letter.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your message clearly. You successfully attempt some less common vocabulary and functional phrases such as 'accommodation process', 'highly expensive', and 'in-person meeting'. However, there are several word choice and spelling errors that prevent a higher band, such as 'know for your admission' instead of 'hear about your admission', 'college accommodation during school life' instead of university life, 'quit' instead of 'quite', 'drop a interest message' instead of 'drop an interested message', and 'than' instead of 'then'. These errors do not impede communication, but they highlight limitations in precision and lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'I lived two months at a college accommodation and it was highly expensive as compared normal apartments which were nearby from the university'. There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures throughout the text, including 'know for your admission', 'so after that I was decided to move', 'to find a affordable place' (missing an 'n'), and 'I did a one mistake while finding the apartment'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, though some run-on sentences occur, such as connecting clauses with commas where full stops or conjunctions would be better suited. While errors are frequent, they rarely impede overall understanding.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.