Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-17

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 6.5)

Dear John,

It's been a while since I've heard from you. I'm really glad that you reached out to me to find a place for you to live. During my time at the University of Ottawa, I used to live in one of those student dorms, which is adjacent to the library and the university centre. I chose to live in that mainly because of harsh winters, and to experience life at the university campus.

I think the best way to get yourself a student dorm at the campus is to register yourself on the online portal, which you should have gotten by now. This should be done as soon as possible because often time student room allocation is based on first come first serve basis.

Despite the availability of all amenities on the campus, often time people chose to live in near by neighbourhood to save some money. However, sometimes commute can be significantly painful during winters, and that results in booking frequent cabs, which undermines the original reason of living the off -campus.

Best wishes,

Jay

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address all three requested points: you explain that you lived in a campus dorm near the library and university centre, recommend applying through the online portal, and caution about the winter commute from nearby neighbourhoods. The advice to apply early because allocation is first-come, first-served is particularly useful. However, the warning focuses mainly on one drawback of living off campus; it would be more complete if you also mentioned common selection mistakes, such as choosing a room without checking its condition, contract terms, or distance from transport. The description of your own accommodation is clear but brief. Developing these points with one or two practical details would make the email more fully informative.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The email has a clear progression from your own experience, to a recommendation, and then to a warning, with paragraph breaks that help the reader follow each part. The opening and closing also suit a friendly email. Linking phrases such as “because” and “However” show how the ideas relate, and the advice about applying early follows logically from the portal recommendation. To make the organisation more polished, connect the final warning more explicitly to the choice of accommodation and avoid repeating “often time” in adjacent sections. A clearer transition into the warning, followed by a specific example of a poor choice, would strengthen the flow and make the cohesion feel less formulaic.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “student dorms,” “room allocation,” “amenities,” and “commute.” Phrases such as “harsh winters” and “undermines the original reason” help express your reasoning, and the meaning remains clear throughout. Some choices are less natural or precise: “get yourself a student dorm” is awkward, while “near by neighbourhood” and “off -campus” show problems with spelling or written form. “Frequent cabs” is understandable but could be expressed more naturally as “regular taxi journeys.” Aim for accurate collocations and consistent spelling, especially when giving practical advice, to make the language more flexible and polished.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including the relative clause in “a student dorm … which is adjacent to the library” and the reason clause beginning “because of harsh winters.” Most sentences communicate your meaning clearly. Some grammatical and punctuation errors remain: “often time” should be “often” or “often times,” and “people chose to live” needs “choose” for a general present-tense statement. The phrase “live in near by neighbourhood” also has an incorrect preposition pattern and needs an article or plural form, while “the off-campus” is not grammatically complete. Review tense consistency, articles, and sentence endings; correcting these would improve accuracy without requiring more complicated structures.

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

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