Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Dear Editor,

I hope you are doing well. You are writing an article called 'The book that influenced me most' in which you want to include contributions from its readers. I am writing this letter to give my feedback on a book that influenced me most.

The book which impressed and left a long lasting impression on me was 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People'. It was about ethics, discipline, and habits one should adopt to become a successful person. You get a certain sense of belonging and satisfaction while reading it. Many businessmen shared their life experience, and how to deal with difficult situations. Furthermore, it teaches you empathy and moral values.

I was deeply influenced by this book. It made me believe in my abilities as I was going through a rough patch at that time. I didn't loose hope and keep on grinding and striving to achieve my goals. This book played a vital role in my success and I would recommend it to others.

In my opinion, this book would be likely to influence other people but it comes down to personal preferences of what kind of book you want to read or what you have been going through in your life.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Yours sincerely

Arslan Abbas

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed all three bullet points of the task effectively. You described the book's content, explained its personal influence, and provided a balanced opinion on its potential to influence others. The tone is appropriate for a magazine contribution. To reach a higher band, ensure that your ideas are developed with more depth; for example, instead of stating the book teaches 'moral values', you could briefly mention one specific lesson that resonated with you. Overall, the response is clear, relevant, and fully satisfies the requirements of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore' and 'In my opinion' to link ideas. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes a bit mechanical. To improve, try to vary your transition words and ensure that the progression of ideas feels more natural. Paragraphing is used correctly, which helps the reader navigate your response easily. The structure is sufficient for a clear and coherent letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'long lasting impression', 'empathy', and 'striving'. There are some minor inaccuracies, such as 'loose' instead of 'lose' and 'keep on grinding', which is slightly informal for this context. While you successfully communicate your message, the vocabulary is generally functional rather than sophisticated. To improve, try to incorporate more precise collocations and avoid repetitive phrasing. Overall, the lexical range is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly without any significant impediment to the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate. There are some grammatical errors, such as 'You are writing an article... in which you want to include' (which sounds slightly unnatural as you are addressing the editor) and the spelling error 'loose' instead of 'lose'. Additionally, 'keep on grinding' is a colloquialism that affects the grammatical tone. Despite these errors, your meaning is always clear, and the punctuation is generally accurate. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures and proofreading for minor slips will help improve your score.

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

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