Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-01

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)

Congragulaton for getting in the Alberta University, it is pretty difficult to get accepted in mechanical engineering course, but you nailed it.

While i was studying there, i chose to live in campus accommodated housing, as it was ner my classroom and it was econmical as compared to renting an appartment or a basement in city of Calgary. It has one the highest cost of living expense.

Since it is the cheapest accommodation around the campus, it gets difficult to get a dorm in campus, so you could you use facebook marketplace to look for a place to live , i will recomend to look for a house with your friend or classmate to reduce the burden of high rent in the city.

If you will do a part time job along the studying, make sure either you get the job near by your house or buy a used car, as in winters it could be verry difficult to commute. I did not planned for that while i was studying there, and have to wait for bus in - 10 degree for hours.

Enjoy your time at the university, and good luck, I hope you will get a accommodation in the campus and let me know if you need any other information, i will be happy to help.

Regards,

Jashanjot

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address all three requested points: you explain that you lived in campus housing, suggest Facebook Marketplace and sharing with a friend, and warn about winter commuting. The advice is relevant and the personal example of waiting for a bus helps make the warning concrete. However, some points are less fully developed than others. The accommodation-search recommendation could be more practical by explaining how to check listings, contact the university’s housing office, or arrange viewings before committing. The warning focuses mainly on transport and does not clearly identify common mistakes in choosing a property, such as overlooking utilities, lease terms, or distance from campus. Develop these points more explicitly to make the advice more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The email has a clear overall progression: congratulations, a description of your student housing, recommendations, a personal warning, and a friendly closing. Paragraph breaks help separate these stages, and links such as “Since” and “If” show how some ideas relate. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and also shows some control of progression. At times, however, connections are awkward or unclear—for example, “Since it is the cheapest accommodation around the campus, it gets difficult to get a dorm” does not clearly distinguish the reason from the consequence. The long final advice paragraph also combines job, transport, and winter concerns. Use clearer transitions and group related advice so the reader can follow each recommendation easily.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary for the topic, including “campus accommodated housing,” “rent,” “part-time job,” “commute,” and “burden,” so the main ideas are understandable. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “cost of living” and “mechanical engineering.” However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, including “Congragulaton,” “econmical,” “recomend,” and “accommodation.” Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “one the highest cost of living expense” and “get a dorm in campus.” Check spelling carefully and learn common collocations for housing and university life. More precise wording would make the advice sound more natural and help you express distinctions between campus residences, shared rentals, and private accommodation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a reason clause with “as” and a conditional beginning “If you will do a part time job.” The overall meaning is generally clear, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “While i was studying there” needs a capitalised pronoun, and “i did not planned” should use the base verb after “did not.” The conditional “If you will do” is better formed as “If you do,” while “I did not planned … and have to wait” shifts tense inconsistently. Articles and sentence construction also need attention in phrases such as “get a dorm in campus.” Review past-tense forms, conditionals, articles, and punctuation, then proofread to make your varied sentence structures more accurate.

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

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