Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-19

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 7.0)

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Osahon Abigail. I am writing this letter to give my contribution to your magazine on "The book that influenced me most".

In the summer of 2015, I read a book titled Purple hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. This book was about a teenager who suffered physical abuse from her overly religious father. The book went further to show in detail how being an extremist can affect one's life and the lives of their loved ones. The book focused on young love, religion, beliefs and the lifestyle of wealthy Nigerians.

The book taught me on how to keep my beliefs and faith on a moderate level. It also proved that not everyone needs to worship God the same way. It is very mandatory as fathers to avoid inflicting any form of abuse on people. It causes fear, trauma and sadness in the household.

The book would also be a good influence on everyone. It will teach adults on how to love appropriately and live without fear. It also shows ladies on how to identify extremist men from their words and actions.

I do hope your team includes this in the magazine. Thank you very much for your time and I do hope to read this on the magazine soon.

Yours faithfully,

Osahon Abigail

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response successfully addresses all three bullet points of the prompt. You clearly describe the book's plot, explain its personal impact on your perspective regarding faith and parenting, and provide a logical argument for why it would influence others. The tone is appropriate for a magazine contribution. To reach a higher band, you could expand slightly more on the 'how' of the influence; for example, describing a specific scene in the book that triggered a change in your thinking would add more depth and personal engagement to the narrative.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a closing. Each paragraph focuses on a single aspect of the prompt, which makes the progression of ideas easy to follow. You use some cohesive devices such as 'In the summer of 2015', 'It also proved', and 'It will teach'. However, the transition between sentences could be more varied; some sentences feel slightly disconnected. Using a wider range of linking words (e.g., 'consequently', 'furthermore', 'in addition to this') would improve the flow and cohesion of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your ideas clearly. Phrases like 'overly religious', 'inflicting any form of abuse', and 'identify extremist men' are well-chosen and appropriate for the context. There are some minor issues with word choice, such as 'It is very mandatory as fathers to avoid', which is slightly unnatural. While the vocabulary is adequate for the task, incorporating more sophisticated collocations or idiomatic expressions would help elevate the response to a higher band level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. Most of your sentences are grammatically accurate and easy to understand. However, there are some minor errors, such as 'The book taught me on how to' (should be 'taught me how to') and 'read this on the magazine' (should be 'in the magazine'). These errors do not impede communication, but they indicate a need for more careful proofreading of prepositions and verb patterns. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures would further improve your score.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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