Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-04
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 Bella,
It is so glad hearing from you after so long with the news that you are offered a place in the university from where I did my bachelors. It is an excellent choice but it is located in the center of London, which is quiet expensive for living. I lived in a small town near it, in Sutton. I would suggest you to find accomodation in those suburbs as cost of living is cheaper. I will share the details of where I lived, might be possible the owner suffice you at the same place. In addition to that I will connect you with some of my friends for better guidance. Moreover, you can also do online searching, as there are numerous advertisments for housing. Furthermore, I would really suggest you to manage the expenses with the cost of living and infact enjoy your life being here, as certainly I was not able to. Be cautious and learn to bloom.
Hope to hearing from you soon and good luck for the future endeavours.
Best regards,
Ella Joh
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response partially addresses all parts of the task, meeting the basic requirements of an informal email to a friend. You successfully describe where you lived ('in a small town near it, in Sutton') and recommend a way to look for accommodation, such as online searching and connecting with friends. However, the third bullet point regarding a warning about mistakes students make when choosing accommodation is underdeveloped and unclear. Instead of a concrete warning about housing pitfalls, you offer vague advice ('manage the expenses... and infact enjoy your life'). To achieve a higher band, all three bullet points need to be fully developed with clear, specific examples and direct warnings regarding common tenant mistakes.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
There is some basic organisation in the email, with an appropriate opening and closing, but it lacks a clear overall progression. Ideas are presented sequentially rather than being smoothly linked. Cohesive devices are somewhat repetitive, relying heavily on additive connectors like 'In addition to that,' 'Moreover,' and 'Furthermore.' Paragraphing is also limited, as most of the body of the email is compressed into a single block of text rather than being broken down into logical thematic paragraphs. To improve, you should group related ideas into distinct paragraphs and use a wider variety of more natural cohesive links to connect your thoughts seamlessly.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your message. You attempt some functional vocabulary related to housing and student life, such as 'suburbs,' 'cost of living,' and 'advertisments.' However, there are noticeable spelling errors ('accomodation' instead of accommodation, 'advertisments' instead of advertisements) and minor word choice inaccuracies, such as 'quiet expensive' instead of quite expensive and 'suffice you' instead of accommodate you. These issues cause some slight difficulty for the reader. To reach a higher band, you should expand your range of less common lexical items and pay closer attention to spelling and precise word collocations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The text shows a limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences joined by basic conjunctions. Your attempts at more complex structures are sometimes faulty, leading to noticeable grammatical errors. For example, 'It is so glad hearing from you' contains an incorrect adjective pattern, and 'news that you are offered' should use a continuous or future form depending on context. There are also tense inconsistencies and preposition errors, such as 'in the university from where I did my bachelors' instead of at the university. Frequent errors in grammar and punctuation persist throughout the text, although they rarely impede overall communication. To improve, focus on mastering complex sentence patterns and reducing basic structural errors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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