Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Dear Taran,

Hello, how're you? First of all, congratulations on passing your last course.

Remember when I studied, I lived very close to the university. Luckily, I found a brand new house as my accommodation. It was a three-bedroom fully furnished house with a big kitchen. As you know, I love cooking, so it's a really good option for me. It also has in-suite laundry, so I did'nt have to worry about doing my personal laundry.

The easiest and best way to find out the accommodation is to post an add on the university's social media page and also look another posts related to the accommodation by other students. Most of time, they are looking for another roommates and sometime you can get some cheap rental options with all the necessary things because they just want to full the vacancy in their house.

I also want to tell you that, make sure you choose a separate room as your accommodation. As, it is very hard to share room with other students because of your schedule. Otherwise, it is really hard for you to focus on your studies.

Let me know if you need any other help from me.

Love,

Ekonkar.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three requested points in a friendly, appropriate email. The description of your student home is specific, including its location, furnishings, kitchen and laundry, and you recommend using the university’s social-media page to find listings and potential roommates. You also give a warning about sharing a room and explain how different schedules could affect studying. However, the advice about finding accommodation is more fully developed than the warning: the warning focuses on one issue and could include other common mistakes, such as failing to check the lease, costs or condition of a property. The recommendation to choose a separate room is also quite absolute. More balanced, practical detail would make the advice more complete and developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The email has a clear overall sequence: greeting, description of your former accommodation, search advice, a warning, and a friendly closing. Paragraphing helps the reader follow these distinct purposes, and phrases such as “First of all,” “As you know,” and “I also want to tell you” signal the progression. Some connections are less smooth or precise, however. The transition from describing your own home to recommending social media is abrupt, and “Most of time” and “Otherwise” do not clearly express the intended relationships between ideas. The long sentence about students seeking roommates and vacancies also combines several points. Use clearer links and divide that explanation into shorter units to make cohesion more flexible and less mechanical.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “fully furnished,” “accommodation,” “roommates,” “rental options” and “vacancy.” These choices make the main message clear, and the personal details give the email a natural, friendly tone. There are some inaccurate word choices, collocations and spelling errors that limit precision: “find out the accommodation” does not mean search for a place to live, “post an add” should be “post an ad,” and “full the vacancy” is not the intended expression. “In-suite laundry” may also be less natural than “in-unit laundry” in this context. Aim for accurate housing-related collocations and proofread spelling; this will make your vocabulary more precise without requiring unnecessarily formal language.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, for example, “As you know, I love cooking, so it's a really good option for me” and the explanation about sharing a room affecting study. The message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. In “make sure you choose,” the clause after “I want to tell you that” needs a complete structure; “As, it is very hard” has incorrect punctuation and subordination; and “Most of time” is missing an article. There are also errors in verb forms and agreement, such as “they just want to full the vacancy,” while “did'nt” contains incorrect apostrophe placement. Check clause construction, articles and verb forms, and use punctuation to separate complete ideas.

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

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