Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-01

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 Editor,

I am writing this letter to express my enthusiastic reviews about a book for one of your article named ‘ The book that influenced me most’. Actually, the name of the book read by me was “ lights out” and written by well-renowned South African writer. Although this book was quite short to read, the lesson and the moral of the story is amazing that forced me to read this again and again.

Rather than focusing on imaginary or artificial things, this book is about writer’s personal life and his hard work. Honestly, I got inspired when I read a line that failure does not mean ending of story, sometimes it is just start up. Instead of give up after facing small problems, I got to know how to stand on our feet’s again and started again. Lastly, the more I learned about this book, the more I became impressed from it.

In this contemporary era, individuals have to take part in competitions in order to achieve anything, so, sometimes they get success or sometimes they have to face failure, which is part of life. That is why, this book helps them to get inspiration or gain confidence. Thank you for considering my perception. Looking forward to hear from you.

Yours Faithfully,

Jyoti Sharma

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed all three bullet points of the task: describing the book, explaining its influence, and discussing its potential impact on others. Your ideas are relevant and clearly presented. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For example, while you mention the book's moral, providing a more specific example of a challenge the author faced would have strengthened your response. The tone is appropriate for a magazine contribution, and you have maintained a clear focus throughout the letter. To reach a higher band, ensure that your explanations are slightly more detailed and fully expanded.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each serving a distinct purpose. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'Rather than,' 'Instead of,' and 'Lastly,' to transition between ideas. However, some of the linking is a bit mechanical, and the flow between sentences could be smoother. For instance, the transition between the book's content and its influence on you is a little abrupt. The use of referencing is generally clear, but improving the variety of your cohesive devices would help the text flow more naturally and elevate the overall structure of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using words like 'enthusiastic,' 'contemporary,' and 'inspiration.' There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'start up' instead of 'a new beginning' or 'stand on our feet’s' (which should be 'stand on our own two feet'). While these errors do not impede communication, they highlight a need for more precise vocabulary usage. To improve, focus on learning common collocations and ensuring that your word choices are contextually accurate for a formal or semi-formal letter.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While your meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'article named' (should be 'article titled'), 'the name of the book read by me was' (passive voice is slightly awkward here), and 'Looking forward to hear' (should be 'Looking forward to hearing'). Punctuation is mostly correct, but there are some issues with article usage and verb forms. To reach a higher band, aim for greater accuracy in complex sentence structures and ensure consistent control over verb tenses and gerunds.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.