Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-06

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 share my experience of a book which has influenced me a lot. The book name is "Musafir Cafe'. The book was about a love story in which the boy had a dream of building a cafe on the mountains with incredible view, positive vibes and atmosphere. He loved a girl that much that he was ready to sacrifice his dream on which he was working from years. The girl got a job where she was trying from ages. Eventually, the time came to move from place she chose her career over love.

The boy left all alone. After some time, he got someone who supported in his dream to achieve. The boy went through very different phase. This story reveals two personalities, one who was ready to sacrifice anything for her dream, while other was willing to give up on his dream for his love. This story teaches lesson of life. This is our choice how we rule our life. Whatever decisions we made today decides our future. Moreover, not everyone stays last long. Therefore, we have to learn to live by ourselves. I believe this story will influence others too.

I hope to hear back from you about my thoughts.

Yours sincerely,

Simran

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. The content is relevant and clearly focused on the prompt. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For example, while you mention the book teaches a 'lesson of life,' you could have elaborated more on how specifically this changed your personal perspective or behavior. The response is well-structured and follows the required format for a letter to an editor, maintaining a consistent tone throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your narrative. You use some basic cohesive devices such as 'Eventually,' 'After some time,' and 'Moreover' to link your ideas. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes a bit mechanical, and the transition between the plot summary and the personal reflection could be smoother. The use of referencing is generally clear, though some sentences feel slightly disjointed due to the simple sentence structures used. Overall, the progression of ideas is logical and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your meaning clearly. You use some descriptive phrases like 'sacrifice his dream' and 'two personalities.' However, there are some minor inaccuracies in collocation and word choice, such as 'The boy left all alone' (should be 'was left') and 'trying from ages' (should be 'trying for ages'). To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more precise academic or descriptive vocabulary to express your thoughts on the book's influence, rather than relying on simpler, repetitive phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. While your meaning is always clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with verb tenses and articles, such as 'The book name is' (should be 'The name of the book is') and 'supported in his dream to achieve' (should be 'supported him in achieving his dream'). Punctuation is generally correct, but there are some issues with sentence fragments and missing auxiliary verbs. Increasing your control over complex sentence structures and proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement will help improve your score.

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

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