Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-30

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,

I am writing to contribute to your article "The Book That Influenced Me Most". The book that has had the greatest impact on my life is The Power Of Subconsious Mind by Joseph Murphy.

The book is about the how imagination and meditation helps you to achieve your goals and targets. Writer told us about the simple techniques of visualization, affirmation and pre-sleep suggestion to help build confidence and break bad habits. Most of readers claims that, this book is simply for to breakout negative thoughts and improve visualization power.

This book influenced me in several ways. before reading it, I was often suffering from negative and overthinking thoughts. However, Murphy's visulization method helps me to build confidence, self - belief and positive thoughts. The book taught me that obstacles are part of life, and success often comes to those who remain commited to their dreams. As a results, I become more motivated and positive in both my studies and personal life.

I believe this book is likely to influence many other people as well. Its theme are relevant to readers of all ages and backgrounds. Anyone can suffer from lack of confidence and negative thoughts, they can learn a lot from this book and gain the motivation to follow their ambitions.

Thank you for considering my contribution. I hope others readers will find this book inspiring as I did.

Yours faithfully,

Neel Mistry.

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 content, explain its personal influence, and provide a logical justification for why it would influence others. The tone is appropriate for a magazine contribution. To reach a higher band, ensure that your explanations are slightly more nuanced; for instance, when discussing the book's influence, you could provide a more specific example of a situation where you applied these techniques to demonstrate the impact more vividly. Overall, the task is fully completed with a clear and consistent focus.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The letter is well-organized with clear paragraphing that follows the structure of the prompt. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, which helps the reader follow your argument easily. You use some cohesive devices like 'However', 'As a result', and 'In addition' to link ideas. To improve, try to vary your transitions further, as some of the sentence connections feel slightly mechanical. Additionally, ensure that referencing is always precise; for example, in the final paragraph, 'they' refers back to 'anyone', which is clear, but the flow could be smoother with more varied linking phrases.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'visualization', 'affirmation', and 'commited'. However, there are some minor errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'Subconsious' (Subconscious), 'visulization' (visualization), and 'commited' (committed). Additionally, phrases like 'Writer told us' are a bit simplistic. To achieve a higher score, focus on using more precise collocations and ensure accurate spelling of key terms. Expanding your vocabulary to include more sophisticated synonyms for common words like 'help' or 'good' would also be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this task. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'the how imagination... helps' (the use of 'the' is unnecessary), 'Most of readers claims' (should be 'Most readers claim'), and 'As a results' (should be 'As a result'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede the overall meaning of your letter. To improve, pay closer attention to subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures would also help demonstrate better control.

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

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