Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-26

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 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam

I am writing to make my contributions towards the article called 'The book that influenced me most'. Although I have a couple of books that has influenced me in the past, but there is a particular novel called 'Gifted Hands' by the author Ben Carson which was introduced to me in high school by my favorite teacher.

Firstly, this book is basically about a young boy who was always used as a laughing stock in secondary school due to his dumb nature and lack of intellectual capacity. Even in most cases he performs poorly in his grade among his peers, but surprisingly after his secondary education he switched to pursue a course in medicine and surgery. He emerged as the best in his university and even became one of the most successful surgeon in world history with multiple groundbreaking experiences.

Furthermore, from my own perspective this book influenced me a lot by increasing my level of motivation in pursuing my career goal in life regardless of the situation I currently find myself. As a result, I also realized that no condition is permanent and there is always room for improvement whenever i perform below expectations.

I think this book would serve as a form of motivation and hope to other individuals especially the younger generation who face criticism and bullying from their peers or people around them due to poor performance that they can always do better. Thanks and I look forward to your positive response.

Yours faithfully

Abdulraheem Abeeb

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You described the book 'Gifted Hands', explained its influence on your personal motivation, and discussed its potential impact on others. The tone is appropriate for a magazine contribution. To reach a higher band, ensure that your ideas are developed with slightly more nuance. For example, when describing the book's plot, you could focus more on the specific challenges the protagonist faced rather than just the outcome. Overall, the response is clear, relevant, and fully satisfies the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use transition words such as 'Firstly', 'Furthermore', and 'As a result' to guide the reader through your thoughts. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate the different requirements of the task. While the flow is generally good, some of the transitions are a bit mechanical. To improve, try to vary your linking phrases and ensure that the connection between sentences is more fluid rather than relying on standard list-like connectors.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your ideas clearly. Phrases like 'groundbreaking experiences' and 'intellectual capacity' are used well. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'dumb nature' (which is informal and slightly unnatural) and 'most successful surgeon in world history' (which is a bit hyperbolic). To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and avoiding overly simplistic descriptors. Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, but adding more sophisticated, topic-specific terminology would enhance your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text. For example, 'books that has influenced me' should be 'books that have influenced me' (subject-verb agreement), and 'although... but' is a redundant construction; you should use one or the other, not both. Additionally, there are minor punctuation and capitalization issues, such as the lowercase 'i' in 'whenever i perform'. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher band score.

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

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