Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-14

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 6.0)

Dear Sir,

I am writing a letter to express you my feelings after reading your book the " 7 Habits of highly effective people". I am Sujan patel and want to discuss with you more about this book.

The book is about the most importants seven habits which every famous or well-known persons have followed in their life. This book was written by famous writer Stephen Covey. The book is divided in 7 major chapter each one has influence on one habit.

My father gave me this book on my 15th birthday. His motive behind giving this book was that I read the book and learned something from that and start taking everything seriously in my life. Because, I was so mischevious and I spent my most of the time for playing or roaming out with friends. After reading book, I started changing my self and I learned importance of discipline, regularity etc. I can say that this book changed my life how I lived.

I believe that other individual can improve their lifestyle and other skills as well after reading this book. Hence, this is the book which influenced me most.

I hope that you may consider my example in your article. If you require any other informations you can call me on my number - [redacted phone].

Thank you,

Sujan Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The candidate addresses all bullet points of the prompt well. The letter successfully describes the book ('The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephen Covey), explains how it influenced the writer by helping them overcome mischievous habits and learn discipline, and expresses the view that other individuals could also benefit from reading it. The tone is mostly appropriate for a magazine contribution, although addressing the editor as if the editor wrote the book ('express you my feelings after reading your book') is a slight misunderstanding of the task context. However, all key content requirements are clearly met and developed, warranting a solid band 6.5 to 7.0 for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The text is generally coherent and arranged in logical paragraphs, moving from an introduction and description of the book to personal background, future outlook, and a closing statement. Cohesive devices such as 'Because', 'After reading book', and 'Hence' are used, but some transitions feel mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'I am writing a letter to express you my feelings'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different ideas, but referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the confusion regarding who wrote the book versus who received the letter. Progression is evident throughout, placing this securely in the band 6.0 range.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts at less common lexical items such as 'mischevious' (misspelled), 'discipline', and 'regularity'. There are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, for example, 'express you my feelings' instead of 'express my feelings to you', 'importants' instead of 'important', and 'roaming out with friends'. Spelling errors like 'mischevious' and 'informations' also occur. While the range is minimally sufficient to convey the intended message, these frequent slips restrict the score to a band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'His motive behind giving this book was that I read the book and learned something from that and start taking everything seriously in my life.' Grammatical errors are frequent throughout the response, including tense shifts and agreement issues, such as 'each one has influence on one habit' and 'other individual can improve'. Punctuation is generally functional, but overall grammatical accuracy is inconsistent, placing this performance at a band 5.5.

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