Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-09

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

A magazine wants to include contributions from its readers for an article called 'The book that influenced me most'.

Write a letter to the editor of the magazine about the book that influenced you most. In your letter

- describe what this book was about
- explain how this book influenced you
- say whether this book would be likely to influence other people

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to express my interest in the article 'The book that influenced me most' from your magazine. I would like to request you to include my contributions from the book that influneced me most.

I have recently read a book called 'Physcology of Money', which inspired me a lot to improve my financial skills. In addition, it clearly describes how someone can reach their financial goal, even though they do not have any prior experience. As a result, people would be beneficial gradually by reading this book.

This book has influenced me particularly because of its details explanation and popularity all over the world. It also helped me to reach my financial goals

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the book and give relevant information about its subject, saying it explains how people can reach financial goals without prior experience. You also describe a personal effect: it helped you improve your financial skills and reach your goals. However, the response only partially fulfils the task: the explanation of your influence is brief, and you do not clearly say whether the book would influence other people or explain why. The opening also focuses on requesting inclusion rather than presenting a complete contribution. The response is 31 words below the required minimum, which leaves little space to develop the ideas. Add a clear view about the book’s effect on other readers and support it with a specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a recognisable structure: an opening, a paragraph about the book, and a final paragraph about its effect on you. Linking expressions such as “In addition” and “As a result” help show relationships between ideas, and the main points are generally easy to follow. However, the progression is limited because the final paragraph ends abruptly and does not address the effect on other readers. Some connections are also not fully clear: “As a result” introduces a broad claim about readers without explaining how it follows from the book’s content. Develop the paragraphs more fully and use a closing sentence to complete the letter; this would make the organisation feel more purposeful rather than simply listing points.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use an adequate range of topic-related vocabulary, including “financial skills,” “financial goal,” “prior experience,” and “popularity.” These choices make the subject of the book clear. There are also some inaccurate word forms, spelling errors, and unnatural collocations that reduce precision: “influneced” and “Physcology” are misspelled, while “people would be beneficial” does not express the intended meaning naturally. “Details explanation” is also an awkward phrase. Aim for accurate, natural combinations and check spelling carefully. For example, you could say that readers “may benefit from” the book and refer to its “detailed explanations.” This would make your vocabulary more precise without requiring unnecessarily complex words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, and several sentences are clear, such as “I have recently read a book called…” and the clause beginning “even though they do not have any prior experience.” The main message remains understandable. Some grammatical errors are present, however. In “I would like to request you to include,” the verb pattern is not correctly formed; use “request that you include” or “ask you to include.” The phrase “because of its details explanation” also has a problem with the noun phrase structure. The final sentence lacks a full stop, and the letter ends without a closing. Review verb patterns, noun phrases, and punctuation, while continuing to use a mix of sentence structures.

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