Many students have to live with roommates while going to school or university. What are some of the important qualities of a good roommate? Use specific reasons and examples to explain why these qualities are important.
Sample Response
Every student, during some parts of their education, especially while doing professional courses, has to stay away from home and live in a hostel accommodation. During this period, they share their rooms with other students. Roommates with certain qualities become ideal and others expect to have such roommates. In my opinion, a good roommate should be kind, understanding, open-minded, and free from any bad habit that would disturb the other members of the room. First and foremost, a good roommate should be kind and generous. He or she should be able to help the roommate when needed in their studies and give them mental support. There should not be any unnecessary fights or arguments. Moreover, he or she has to be understanding and friendly. Secondly, that person should not be selfish. As they live together, there should be an open-mindedness to share the facilities available equally between the two. For example, the time for using the bathroom, usage of night lamp for studies and so on. Lastly, a nice roommate should be free of any bad habits like smoking, gambling and drinking. It is quite often the fact that roommates with bad habit can influence others very fast since students spend most of the time with them and finally end up taking these habits to themselves. This, in turn, can have a very bad impact on their health, studies and characters. In conclusion, having a good roommate is essential for our professional and personal growth and as a roommate, we should also possess those qualities.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use a natural time phrase Original: during some parts of their education Suggested revision: at some point in their education Why it matters: This phrase describes an unspecified stage of education more naturally.
- 2. Use the correct collocation Original: doing Suggested revision: taking Why it matters: Students normally “take” courses rather than “do” them in formal written English.
- 3. Remove the incorrect article Original: a hostel accommodation Suggested revision: hostel accommodation Why it matters: “Accommodation” is uncountable in this general sense and cannot take “a.”
- 4. Use the plural form Original: free from any bad habit Suggested revision: free of any bad habits Why it matters: The phrase refers generally to multiple possible habits, so the plural noun is required.
- 5. Name the people accurately Original: members Suggested revision: occupants Why it matters: People occupy a room; they are not members of it.
- 6. Use a consistent subject Original: He or she should be able Suggested revision: A good roommate should be able Why it matters: Repeating the topic noun avoids an abrupt shift to gendered singular pronouns.
- 7. Clarify the help structure Original: the roommate when needed in their studies Suggested revision: their roommate with their studies when needed Why it matters: The revised phrase uses the correct “help someone with something” structure and clarifies the pronouns.
- 8. Use a natural collocation Original: mental Suggested revision: emotional Why it matters: “Emotional support” is the standard phrase for personal encouragement and reassurance.
- 9. Keep the modal consistent Original: has to be understanding Suggested revision: should be understanding Why it matters: Using “should” matches the essay's other recommendations about roommate qualities.
- 10. Use a precise term Original: nice Suggested revision: considerate Why it matters: “Considerate” identifies the relevant interpersonal quality more precisely than “nice.”
- 11. Introduce examples formally Original: bad habits like Suggested revision: bad habits such as Why it matters: “Such as” is the more formal way to introduce the listed examples.
- 12. Use a natural expression Original: It is quite often the fact that Suggested revision: It is often the case that Why it matters: The original phrase is not idiomatic and is unnecessarily wordy.
Suggested Rewrites
- during some parts of their education at some point in their education
- doing taking
- a hostel accommodation hostel accommodation
- free from any bad habit free of any bad habits
- members occupants
- He or she should be able A good roommate should be able
Why this response received Band 6.5
The essay identifies several relevant roommate qualities and supports them with practical reasons involving study support, shared facilities, and harmful habits. Its main limitation is that the response is compressed into one paragraph and some examples remain fragmentary or linguistically awkward. The highest-priority improvement is to develop each quality in a separate paragraph with one complete, specific example showing how it improves shared living.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Response
The response addresses the task with a clear range of qualities and relevant reasons and examples, though some ideas are only briefly developed.
Explain each quality through a fuller situation showing the effect on both roommates.
Coherence and Cohesion
The qualities follow a logical sequence with clear signposting, but the single-paragraph presentation weakens organisation and emphasis.
Group related qualities into distinct body paragraphs and integrate examples into complete sentences.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficient for discussing shared living, but several word choices and collocations are unnatural or imprecise.
Use natural phrases such as student accommodation, emotional support, share facilities fairly, and adopt bad habits.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Both simple and complex forms are attempted, but recurring errors in agreement, articles, pronouns, and sentence completion reduce control.
Check that every example is a complete sentence and that singular and plural references remain consistent.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Many students have to live with roommates while going to school or university. What are some of the important qualities of a good roommate? Use specific reasons and examples to explain why these qualities are important.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.