Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-27

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 ,

From my deepest heart i am writing this letter to you about the book which influenced me the most was "NEVER ENDING STORY"

Here I would like tell you this is one of the most amazing story book which i ever read it is about a small boy who has many problems in life. He has to through all the problems to save his bestie. Many difficulty comes in his life to save his friends and even they have made movie on this story. Actually this story is very old nearly in to the late 80,s.

This story influence that the boy goes to many phases in life to save his friend it shows the true friendship and he passes through all the stages which has very difficult phase but still he saves her life.

I would like to deeply recommend you to publish the book and should go to many people around the world so that they get influenced and they know the true friendship.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all three bullet points of the prompt: describing the book, explaining its influence, and discussing its potential impact on others. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. The description of the plot is repetitive and lacks specific detail, and the explanation of how the book influenced you is vague, focusing more on the plot than on personal impact. To improve, you should provide more concrete examples of how the book changed your perspective or behavior. The tone is generally appropriate for a letter to an editor, although the structure could be more formal.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is organized into short paragraphs, which helps with readability. However, the progression of ideas is somewhat disjointed. There is a lack of cohesive devices to link sentences and ideas smoothly; for example, the transition between the plot summary and the influence of the book is abrupt. The use of referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun 'her' in the third paragraph, which lacks a clear antecedent. Using a wider range of linking words like 'consequently,' 'furthermore,' or 'in addition' would help improve the logical flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but remains quite basic and repetitive. You rely on simple descriptors like 'amazing' and 'difficult.' There are also some inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'bestie' (which is too informal for this context) and 'story book' (which should be 'novel' or 'book'). To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more precise vocabulary and collocations, such as 'profound impact' instead of 'influence' or 'overcome obstacles' instead of 'through all the problems.'

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentences, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Many difficulty comes'), incorrect verb forms (e.g., 'He has to through' instead of 'He has to go through'), and punctuation errors, such as the misuse of commas and apostrophes (e.g., '80,s'). The sentence structure is often fragmented. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for common errors like missing articles and incorrect verb tenses will significantly improve your score.

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

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