Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-25

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 this letter to give you a contribution about the book that influenced me most.

To illustrate this book, this is mainly focuses on healthy lifestyle. Moreover, this book has defines importance of eating nutritious food and pros of exercise routine.

I have started to follow this books's advises since I read. To begin with, I do workout followed by a healthy food in breakfast and I am noticing changes in myself. Moreover, it also shows how much of proteins, carbs and fats are vital in each meals.

I definitely thinks this book would help many people as currently people have sedantary lifestyle and they becomes dependent on certain things. This book will give readers to motivation for move and eat clean.

I hope you considers my opinion on this book. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours Faithfully,

Pragati Nanera

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed all three bullet points of the prompt: describing the book, explaining its influence, and discussing its potential impact on others. However, the response is slightly under the 150-word minimum requirement, which impacts the overall task completion. While the ideas are relevant, they are somewhat underdeveloped. For instance, the description of the book is quite brief and lacks specific details about the title or the author, which would have helped to fully develop the response. To improve, ensure you expand on your points with more descriptive language and ensure you meet the minimum word count to avoid a penalty.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your ideas. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'To begin with', and 'To illustrate', which assist in linking sentences. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as 'To illustrate this book'. The referencing is generally clear, but the flow between sentences could be smoother. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices more naturally and ensure that the progression of ideas within paragraphs is more seamless.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to communicate your main points effectively. You use some topic-specific vocabulary like 'nutritious', 'sedentary', and 'routine'. However, there are several word-choice errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'give you a contribution' (instead of 'contribute to your magazine') and 'books's advises' (advice is an uncountable noun). There is also a lack of more sophisticated or 'less common' lexical items. To improve, focus on learning the correct collocations and the difference between countable and uncountable nouns.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. Examples include 'this is mainly focuses on' (subject-verb agreement error), 'this book has defines' (incorrect verb tense), and 'they becomes dependent' (subject-verb agreement). Additionally, there are issues with articles and pluralization, such as 'in each meals'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to lower the score. Focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and verb tense consistency.

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

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