Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-02

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

i am writing this letter to talk about the book which influenced me most. the name of the book is " THE MOTIVATION" by william thomas. in this book the author talk about his true story the how challenging his life and then how he self motivate with his small achivements. i influenced by this book when the author was small child and he was in trouble and his mom and dad was not with him he alone did every thing and have trust on god that make me more influenced. yes this book whether be likely to influenced to other people because its depend on true story and how the small child achieved success in his life. i strongly believe that so many persons can influenced by his true story and make themself motivate by learn valuable lesson from the book.

thanks to give me opportunity to share my views.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all three bullet points: describing the book, explaining its influence, and discussing its potential impact on others. However, the development of these ideas is quite limited. The description of the book's plot is vague, and the explanation of how it influenced you lacks depth, relying on repetitive phrasing. To improve, you should provide more specific details about the book's content and elaborate on the personal impact it had on your mindset or actions. The tone is appropriate for a magazine contribution, but the overall depth of the response is restricted by the limited vocabulary and grammatical control.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter follows a basic logical progression, moving from the introduction to the book's content, its influence, and finally its potential impact on others. However, the use of cohesive devices is very limited and often mechanical. There is a lack of linking words or transition phrases to connect ideas smoothly. Furthermore, the paragraphing is non-existent; the entire response is written as one block of text. To reach a higher band, you must use clear paragraph breaks to separate your ideas and incorporate a wider range of cohesive devices (e.g., 'furthermore', 'consequently', 'in addition') to improve the flow between sentences.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is basic and repetitive, which limits your ability to express complex ideas. Phrases like 'talk about', 'small child', and 'influenced' are used repeatedly. There are also several errors in word choice and form, such as 'self motivate' instead of 'self-motivated' and 'achivements' (spelling error). While the meaning is generally clear, the range of vocabulary is insufficient to demonstrate a higher level of proficiency. You should focus on learning synonyms and collocations to avoid repetition and to add precision to your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the reader's understanding. There are consistent issues with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'author talk', 'mom and dad was'), verb tense consistency, and sentence structure. Many sentences are simple, and attempts at more complex structures are often faulty, such as 'yes this book whether be likely to influenced to other people'. Punctuation is also problematic, with a lack of capital letters at the start of sentences and missing commas. You need to focus on basic sentence construction, subject-verb agreement, and correct verb forms to improve your accuracy.

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