Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-29
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 5.5)
Dear Sai,
Congratulations on your graduation. I heard you got a seat in Masters in Taxation from university of waterloo, it's one of the toughest course and its's hard to get a seat, I really felt so happy when I heard from my mom.A ll the best for your new beginning at the university.
I used to live in an apartment at 350 Lynnwood drive which is 10 kms away from the university. The neighbourhood is beautiful and it's convenient to many grocery stores so many students prefer to live here.The major things we need to priortise when looking for accomodation is public transportation with reasonable rent. Now-a-days many landlords post about the availability of the accomodation in facebook marketplace and in whatsapp group, even you can find from Kijjii. Try to join in whatsapp group where you find it from facebook defini
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response covers all parts of the bullet points by describing where you lived ("an apartment at 350 Lynnwood drive"), recommending accommodation hunting methods ("facebook marketplace and in whatsapp group"), and warning about priorities ("public transportation with reasonable rent"). However, the length requirement has not been met, as the response contains 143 words, falling short of the 150-word minimum. Furthermore, the writing cuts off abruptly at the end ("Try to join in whatsapp group where you find it from facebook defini"), leaving the final point incomplete. Because of the under-length penalty and the incomplete ending, the task is only partially resolved.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The email begins with an appropriate salutation and moves into personal news before addressing the task prompts. However, the logical progression is hindered by the abrupt cutoff at the end of the text. Paragraphing is poorly handled, with the body of the email crammed into a single block instead of being separated into distinct paragraphs for each bullet point. Cohesive devices are minimal and basic, and referencing becomes unclear towards the end where sentences trail off incomplete. Overall arrangement shows some basic structural awareness, but cohesion is faulty and mechanical.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for a basic personal email, featuring functional terms such as "neighbourhood", "convenient", and "landlords". There are attempts at less common lexical items, but word choice and spelling inaccuracies are present, such as "priortise" instead of "prioritise", "accomodation" with double 'c', and referencing "Kijjii" (Kijiji). The range is somewhat limited and repetitive, and the unfinished sentence at the end prevents the demonstration of a more flexible lexical range. Communication is generally maintained despite spelling slips.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as relative clauses in "which is 10 kms away from the university". However, there are notable punctuation and grammatical errors, including comma splices ("I heard you got a seat in Masters in Taxation from university of waterloo, it's one of the toughest course...") and subject-verb agreement issues ("it's one of the toughest course"). The final sentence is incomplete and ungrammatical. While simple structures are handled with reasonable accuracy, the accumulation of punctuation errors and the unfinished ending pull the score down to this level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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