Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-17

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 or Madam,

I am writing regarding the book that influenced me most. The purpose of this letter is to describe this book and explain its influence on me, and I would like to provide some further details about the situation.

To begin with, I would like to mention that the book was about developing positive habits and making small improvements in everyday life. I hope this information helps to explain the situation clearly.

Furthermore, I believe that this book influenced me greatly because it taught me how small daily habits can improve discipline and productivity. This is particularly important to me, and I hope you will take it into consideration.

Finally, I believe that this book is likely to influence other people because its practical ideas can help individuals develop better habits and achieve their goals. I believe this would be an appropriate way to deal with the situation.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I hope you will consider the points I have mentioned, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Jay

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all parts of the task prompt well. You successfully describe what the book was about, namely 'developing positive habits and making small improvements in everyday life'. Furthermore, you explain how the book influenced you by teaching 'how small daily habits can improve discipline and productivity'. Finally, you mention whether the book would be likely to influence other people by noting that 'its practical ideas can help individuals develop better habits and achieve their goals'. However, the tone and phrasing throughout the letter are slightly repetitive, relying heavily on formulaic phrases like 'I hope this information helps to explain the situation clearly' which do not fit a personal book review letter naturally. Nevertheless, all bullet points are addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter has a clear overall arrangement with logical paragraphing. Each bullet point is separated into its own paragraph, and transitional markers are used to guide the reader through the text, such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', and 'Finally'. However, the cohesion feels somewhat mechanical and repetitive due to the excessive use of bureaucratic or irrelevant formulaic filler sentences, such as 'I believe this would be an appropriate way to deal with the situation'. Referencing is generally clear, but the flow is occasionally disrupted by these awkward stock phrases rather than smooth semantic connections between your ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, with clear terms such as 'discipline', 'productivity', 'practical ideas', and 'everyday life'. However, the lexical range is rather limited and repetitive, with words like 'book', 'influence', 'habit', and 'situation' recurring frequently throughout the short text. There is an absence of less common or more sophisticated lexical items, and some collocations feel unnatural given the context of writing a magazine contribution about an influential book. Spelling and word choice are accurate, but the lack of lexical flexibility keeps the score at this band level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

You demonstrate good control over basic and some complex sentence structures. Sentences such as 'I believe that this book influenced me greatly because it taught me how small daily habits can improve discipline and productivity' showcase a complex sentence form with subordinate clauses used accurately. Grammar and punctuation are generally sound throughout the response, and there are no glaring errors that impede communication. The majority of the sentences are grammatically accurate, though the structural range is somewhat restricted by the repetitive sentence patterns used in the body paragraphs.

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