Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-08

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 5.0)

Dear Sir,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this latter to provide you feedback about my recent magazine ' The magazine that influenced me most '. Moreover, I read this magazine last week and it has influenced me a lot in my professional life.

To begin with, I bought this magazine on last week. However, this whole magazine explains how to deal with different personality people at work place? Additionally , author have shared his own life story which really motivates me a lot in my professional life. Furthermore, this entire magazine is highly influential for all the people who wanted achieve more success. I would recommend this book to my friends and cousins to help them in their growth. I hope your magazine will gain popularity. I am looking forward to read more magazines. This feedback helps you for future.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Riddhi

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to address the core requirement of the prompt, which asks for a letter about a 'book'. Instead, you wrote about a 'magazine'. This is a significant misunderstanding of the task instructions. While you attempted to cover the three bullet points—describing the content, explaining the influence, and suggesting its impact on others—the content remains vague and repetitive. For example, you mention it helps with 'different personality people' but do not provide specific details about the book's content or themes. To improve, ensure you read the prompt carefully to identify the specific subject matter required and provide more concrete, developed examples to support your points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is organised into short paragraphs, which is appropriate for the format. However, the progression of ideas is somewhat mechanical. You use transition words like 'To begin with', 'However', and 'Furthermore', but they are sometimes used incorrectly or do not logically connect the sentences. For instance, 'However' is used to introduce a point that does not contrast with the previous sentence. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as when you refer to the subject as both a 'magazine' and a 'book'. Improving the logical flow between sentences and ensuring that cohesive devices are used to enhance meaning rather than just acting as fillers will help raise your score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is generally basic and repetitive. You rely heavily on simple phrases like 'influenced me a lot' and 'professional life', which are repeated multiple times. There are also errors in word choice, such as 'provide you feedback' (should be 'provide you with feedback') and 'read more magazines' (when you likely meant 'issues'). To reach a higher band, you should aim to use a wider range of vocabulary, including more precise adjectives and verbs related to literature and personal development. Avoid repeating the same phrases and focus on using collocations that sound more natural in a formal letter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains several grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. There are issues with article usage ('on last week'), verb tense consistency ('who wanted achieve' instead of 'who want to achieve'), and sentence structure. Many sentences are simple, and there is a lack of complex structures. For example, 'This feedback helps you for future' is grammatically incorrect and awkward. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction, specifically subject-verb agreement and the correct use of prepositions. Incorporating a variety of complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses or conditional sentences, would also demonstrate a higher level of grammatical control.

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