Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-13

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 5.0)

Dear Sir,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing to give review about the book that influenced me most is "The monk who sold his ferrari" by Robin Sharma.

This very special book tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, who is a successful lawyer, has plenty of money, a private jet, has a ferarri or many cars.

He is not happy about his life. He suffers from heart attack. After that he leave his career and decide to go to himalays, where he learn about life lessons.

One thing that influenced me he tells us about life is not just about career or goals. We have to help others who are in need. We have to chant, we need to find a great pleasure of life.

For instance such as when we didnt suffer from pain how can we sense that pain ? how can we feel ?

Yes it will be influence other people because the teachings, lessons.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses all parts of the task prompt, covering what the book was about, how it influenced the writer, and whether it would likely influence others. The ideas, however, are quite limited and under-developed, falling into the Band 5 descriptor. For instance, the description of the plot is somewhat fragmented ('he suffer from heart attack. After that he leave his career...'), and the explanation of the book's influence and its potential impact on others is very brief and lacks detailed support. While the tone is appropriate for a letter, the bullet points from the prompt need fuller expansion and clearer explanation to achieve a higher band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter lacks proper paragraphing, with almost the entire body of the response crammed into a single block of text below the salutation, which makes the logical progression difficult to follow. Cohesive devices are minimal or inaccurate, leading to choppy sentences ('After that he leave his career and decide to go to himalays, where he learn about life lessons'). Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the transition between ideas feels abrupt. To improve, the writer should group related ideas into distinct paragraphs and use a wider range of appropriate transition words to guide the reader smoothly through the letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The lexical resource is limited and minimally adequate for the task, fitting Band 5. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'extraordinary' and 'pleasure', but there are noticeable spelling errors ('ferarri', 'himalays', 'didnt') and awkward word choices ('give review', 'great pleasure of life'). Collocation is occasionally unnatural, and repetitive phrasing ('influence me', 'influence other people') restricts the range of vocabulary. To progress, the student needs to expand their range of vocabulary, improve spelling accuracy, and use words in more natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response displays a very limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences with frequent attempts at complex sentences that turn out faulty ('For instance such as when we didnt suffer from pain how can we sense that pain ?'). There are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('he suffer', 'he leave', 'he learn') and tense inconsistencies. Punctuation errors are also present, such as incorrect question mark spacing. These errors cause some difficulty and strain for the reader, though the core meaning can still be pieced together. The grammar aligns closely with the Band 5 descriptors.

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

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