Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-01

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 Hira,

Congratulations! I am more than happy that you got an offer letter from the same university from which I completed my masters. I received your letter regarding the accomodation advice to want.

When I was a student at Western University, London, the job of finding accomodation was hell troublesome. I contacted more than fifty landlords on marketplace but many of them did not replied me back. On the other hand, few of them wants to check credit score and employment proof. I almost gave up my plan to study abroad but luckily one lady who was renting her basement only to girls approcahed me. As far as I know she was too good and she offered me on student discount as welll as fully-furnished basement apartment.

I would recommend you to not only search on facebook marketplace but aslo join university group and make contact with others. This might be more helpful to find sharing partner with whom you are compatible with. But, here I would like to draw your attention that prefer living in apartment as compare to detached house or basement. On of the major consequence is that in winter people can barely adjust with cold, to add to this, a lot of inscets cam out from the ground which ruin your mattress and food.

I hope this information will helpful to you. All the best for future endevours!

Lovingly,

Priya

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You successfully address all parts of the prompt by describing where you lived as a student, recommending the best way to look for accommodation, and warning your friend about common mistakes. The tone of the email is appropriately friendly and conversational, beginning correctly with 'Dear Hira,'. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. For instance, while the personal anecdote about finding a basement apartment is detailed, the warning regarding mistakes students make is slightly vague and focuses heavily on specific grievances like insects and cold weather rather than broader strategic pitfalls. To reach a higher level, all bullet points from the prompt need to be equally extended and supported with clearer, more cohesive explanations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your email presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure that addresses each part of the prompt in turn. You use logical connectors such as 'When I was a student', 'On the other hand', and 'To add to this' to guide the reader through your narrative and advice. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty, and referencing can be unclear, such as the sudden shift from discussing the basement experience to general advice in the third paragraph. Additionally, paragraph transitions could be smoother. To improve, you should ensure that cohesive devices are used more flexibly and that referencing between sentences remains precise throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and phrases such as 'employment proof', 'fully-furnished basement apartment', and 'compatible with'. However, there are noticeable issues with word choice, spelling, and word forms that prevent you from reaching a higher band. For example, 'accomodation' is misspelled, 'hell troublesome' is an unnatural collocation, 'did not replied' contains a tense error in lexical structure, and words like 'approcahed', 'aslo', 'inscets', and 'endevours' contain spelling mistakes. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they highlight the need for greater precision and care with lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms throughout the email, demonstrating an ability to construct multi-clause sentences such as 'As far as I know she was too good and she offered me on student discount as well as fully-furnished basement apartment.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, though they rarely impede communication. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('few of them wants'), incorrect prepositions ('offered me on student discount', 'helpul to you'), and minor prepositional or article slips ('prefer living in apartment as compare to detached house'). To improve further, you need to increase your control over complex sentence patterns and eliminate recurring agreement and prepositional errors to produce more error-free sentences.

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

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