Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-14

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 friend

I hope you are doing good. I had heard that you are enrolled on the course at the university where i had studied. Good to listen that I thought to give you advice about finding the best accommodation for living.

There is a building nearby university there were some students arranging a new flat for living , so i got to know about them by one of the proffesor at the university he gave me there number that's how i reached to them and find a place for living. I will recommend you to visit the same building and there is a group at face book related to accommodation you can also see there.

One thing before choosing any place for living you have to search each and everything about it i mean that all the services are available there like water, gas, electricity etc. You know i did a mistake i just sign agreement without knowing about the building i found so much difficulty.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the main points by describing how you found accommodation, recommending a university-related building and Facebook group, and warning your friend to check services before signing. The personal example about signing an agreement without checking the building is relevant and gives the warning a clear basis. However, the description of where you lived is vague: it is not clear what kind of building or accommodation it was, or what living there was like. The advice on how to search is also brief, and the warning could identify more specific mistakes, such as failing to inspect the room or read the agreement. Develop these details and make the email’s purpose clearer from the opening.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic progression from the greeting and background to accommodation advice and a warning, so the reader can follow its general purpose. The final example also connects to the advice about checking a property. However, the ideas are crowded into long sentences, and links between them are sometimes unclear, as in “there is a building nearby university there were some students arranging a new flat.” The email would be easier to follow if you used separate paragraphs for your experience, search recommendations, and warning. Use clearer transitions and references—for example, explain what “the same building” refers to—and avoid joining several ideas with “so” or “and.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough everyday vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “accommodation,” “agreement,” and “services.” However, the range is limited, and several phrases are inaccurate or unnatural, which sometimes makes the message harder to understand. For example, “finding the best accommodation for living” and “a new flat for living” could be expressed more naturally as “finding suitable accommodation” and “looking for a flat to rent.” “I got to know about them” is also imprecise when you mean that you learned about the students or their housing arrangement. Check spelling and word forms, including “professor” and “Facebook,” and choose more precise housing vocabulary such as “landlord,” “utilities,” and “rental agreement.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to connect ideas in longer sentences, but the response relies heavily on simple patterns and the longer constructions are often faulty. For instance, “there is a building nearby university there were some students arranging a new flat” combines clauses without a clear grammatical link, while “I just sign agreement” has errors in tense and article use. There are also problems with verb forms and sentence boundaries in “he gave me there number that's how i reached to them and find a place.” These errors can make the reader pause to work out the meaning. Practise separating ideas into complete sentences and checking past-tense forms, articles, and subject–verb patterns.

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

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