Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-11

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 7.0)

Dear Praise

How are you doing and how is everything with you? I am delighted to hear of your admission placement in my alma mater and I hope you find a good place to live.

During my school days I lived off campus as the school accommodation was still under construction. I lived in a hostel called Compton, it is a one-storey building made up of over 17 self-contain room. My apartment was upstairs. The room is quite spacious, well lighted and has a small balcony and a good WI-FI network.

The best way of sourcing accommodation is by doing it by yourself and on time, rather than involving 2nd parties often referred to as house-agents. This way, you would get the apartment at a better and cheaper price, cutting off agent fee and other unnecessary charges, and also get to view the apartment to ensure you like it.

Please avoid shared and unsecured apartments and also the ones that are farther away from school as this will save you a lot of money and stress.

Please feel free to reach out for any further help.

Best wishes,

Mercy.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The email addresses all three requested points and maintains a friendly, helpful purpose. You describe your student accommodation with concrete details, including its location off campus, the building and the room’s balcony and Wi-Fi. Your advice to search independently and early is clear, and you explain the benefit of avoiding agent fees. You also warn against shared, insecure or distant accommodation. These ideas are relevant and supported, although the warning is somewhat general: explain, for example, how to check security or assess the commute before committing. The description also says the apartment was upstairs after calling the building one-storey, which leaves a small detail unclear. More specific, consistently clear development would strengthen the response further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The message follows a clear progression: greeting and congratulations, a description of your former accommodation, practical search advice, a warning, and a friendly closing. Paragraphing helps the reader distinguish these stages, and linking phrases such as “This way” make the reasoning behind your recommendation easy to follow. The email format and sign-off are appropriate for writing to a friend. Cohesion is generally effective, though the warning paragraph moves quickly from shared accommodation to security and distance without explaining how these concerns relate. The description also contains a slight spatial inconsistency between “one-storey” and “upstairs.” Clarifying that detail and adding a brief transition or explanation in the warning would make the progression even smoother.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use a suitable range of vocabulary for a friendly email, including “alma mater,” “under construction,” “spacious,” “unsecured,” and “cutting off agent fee.” These choices communicate the main points, and the tone is generally appropriate. The response also shows some flexibility by describing both the accommodation and the practical costs of searching. However, several expressions are imprecise or unnatural, such as “admission placement,” “sourcing accommodation,” “2nd parties,” and “self-contain room.” “School days” is also less precise than “university days” in this context. These choices do not prevent understanding, but more natural collocations and accurate forms would improve precision and fluency. Aim to use familiar, idiomatic wording rather than formal-sounding phrases that do not quite fit.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, and many sentences are clear and grammatically controlled. For example, “This way, you would get the apartment at a better and cheaper price” develops the recommendation, while the final warning uses a subordinate clause to explain its benefit. A few errors remain in agreement, articles and sentence construction. In “over 17 self-contain room,” the noun phrase needs a plural noun and a correctly formed modifier; “cutting off agent fee” also needs an article or plural form. The description “it is a one-storey building … My apartment was upstairs” creates a grammatical and logical clarity issue in the sentence sequence. Check noun forms and articles, and make sure related clauses describe a consistent situation.

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

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