Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-07-29

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 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to reflect on your recent book that is one of my favourites.

To begin with, I have immense interest in the field of criminology. Your books not only inspiring but also aware people about serial killers, crimes and other social concerns. I would love to mention "the serial killer" book that recently attained worldwide attention.

Even though the genre is extremely engaging, what makes it more interesting is storyline and it is thrilling.

Moving further, book influenced me and guided me throughout the period of time when I used to travel all by myself. I learned about safety measures that should be taken by every individual to stay safe and to avoid crimes.

I have a great initiution that this book could be influential to other people as well who are living alone and vulnerable to crimes. For reference, it is quite impressive that the parents gave optimistic feedback on certain chapters of the book and mentioned that they found it very helpful.

Thanks

Regards.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed all three bullet points of the task: describing the book, explaining its influence, and discussing its potential impact on others. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, while you mention the book 'the serial killer', you do not provide specific details about the plot or themes, which makes the description vague. Similarly, the explanation of how it influenced your safety habits is brief. To reach a higher band, ensure you provide more concrete examples and elaborate on your personal experiences to fully develop your ideas. The tone is appropriate for a letter to an editor, and the purpose is clear throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each serving a specific purpose. You use some cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Moving further', and 'For reference' to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the flow between sentences could be smoother. For example, the connection between the book's genre and the storyline in the first paragraph is a bit abrupt. Additionally, the use of referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'your recent book', which is ambiguous since you are writing to a magazine editor about a book you read, not necessarily one published by them.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'criminology', 'social concerns', and 'vulnerable'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. For example, 'aware people' should be 'make people aware', and 'great initiution' is likely a misuse of 'intuition' or 'hunch'. Furthermore, 'the serial killer' is not a standard way to refer to a book title. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and ensure that your vocabulary choices are natural and contextually accurate. Expanding your range of descriptive adjectives would also enhance the quality of your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text. For instance, 'Your books not only inspiring but also aware people' lacks a verb ('are') and contains incorrect word forms. There are also minor issues with articles, such as 'the storyline' (which should be 'the storyline is') and 'the period of time'. While these errors do not significantly impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on subject-verb agreement and ensuring that your complex sentences are constructed with correct auxiliary verbs and prepositions.

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