Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-21

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 Rahul,

Hi how are you? and congratulaions for securing a seat at Algoma University, I know it was your dream university and finally you made it. I will be happy to help you with the accomodation thing, I had a great experience and wanted you will get same.

I am a house person, but unfortunatelly I was not able to get one, but in the Brampton downtown i was able to find a condo-appartment. It was just a stone thrown away from the university, which made my life super easy. Plus, free concerts were also offered as there were free acces to the townhall for residents.

You are coming in winters right ? well in winters its pretty hard to to get any accomodation, but worries not your friend will help you out. Just go through with this website "brokersfree.ca". owners directly post here , so no need to feed the brokers.

Make sure you would not give security depost more then 50% of your monthly rent, there were some incidents in the past, owners just settle them unnecessarly when you leave the place.

Feel free to bother me if you need something, will cath up soon,

Love,

Nikhil

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The email addresses all three requested points and maintains an appropriate, friendly tone. You explain that you found a condo apartment in downtown Brampton, recommend a website where owners post directly, and warn Rahul about paying an excessive security deposit. These details make the advice relevant and personal. The accommodation description is the least developed part: the distance from the university and access to free concerts are useful, but the location and living arrangement could be explained more clearly. The warning would also be stronger if you clarified what a reasonable deposit should be and how students can avoid disputes. The response covers the task well overall, with some ideas needing fuller explanation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The message has a clear overall sequence: congratulations and an offer to help, your own housing experience, advice on searching, a warning, and a friendly closing. Paragraph breaks help distinguish these points, and phrases such as “Plus” and “Make sure” guide the reader through the advice. Some connections are less smooth or clear, however. For example, “I am a house person, but unfortunately I was not able to get one” is difficult to follow in relation to the condo you found, and “but worries not your friend will help you out” does not clearly connect the winter difficulty to the website recommendation. Use more precise transitions and make references explicit so the progression feels consistently natural rather than occasionally abrupt.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of relevant vocabulary for an informal email, including “condo-apartment,” “stone’s throw away,” “residents,” and “security deposit.” These choices help convey your experience and advice, and the reader can generally understand your meaning. However, several spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural expressions reduce accuracy, such as “congratulaions,” “accomodation,” “feed the brokers,” and “settle them unnecessarily.” Some phrases, including “I am a house person” and “a seat at” a university, do not express the intended meaning naturally. Aim for accurate spelling and more conventional collocations, especially when explaining housing arrangements and rental costs. This would make your vocabulary more precise and fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, for example, “It was just a stone thrown away from the university, which made my life super easy.” The message is generally understandable, but some grammatical errors and punctuation problems remain. In “Hi how are you? and congratulaions,” the question and following clause are not punctuated or capitalised correctly. “I wanted you will get same” combines verb forms incorrectly; a structure such as “I hope you have the same experience” would be clearer. There are also errors in “in winters its pretty hard to to get” and “Make sure you would not give,” where tense or modal choices are unsuitable. Check sentence boundaries, verb forms, and articles, while continuing to practise varied sentence structures.

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

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