Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-19

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 5.5)

Dear Madam,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing to contribute to your article, “The Book That Influenced Me Most.” I would like to share my experience with the book The Dreams.I would say that I love this book because I feel connected with it.

Firstly, In this book I read real stories about so many people who strugle a lot and then they get they desire goals in their life. I read a main creater in the book who push his self every time when he got the failure.Which is most inspire thing not for young people but all aged people become inspire when they read this book.

Secondly,I also learn who to about dreams which I want to get in my life.With the help of the this book I feel that now I believe in myself more as compareto before.

I believe this book could influence other people, especially young readers, because its message is simple and inspiring.

I would really appricate your time , thank you so much .

Warm Regards,

Gagandeep

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The candidate successfully covers all bullet points required by the prompt. You described the book in a general sense, explaining that it features real stories about people overcoming struggles to achieve their goals. You also explained how it influenced you by helping you believe in yourself more and giving you clarity about your dreams, and you touched upon why it would likely influence other readers, particularly young people, due to its simple and inspiring message. While some ideas remain somewhat basic and could be expanded with further detail or more specific examples to reach higher band levels, the overall purpose of the letter is clear and completely relevant to the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear opening salutation, body paragraphs addressing distinct points, and an appropriate closing. Logical signposts such as 'Firstly' and 'Secondly' are employed to structure the sequence of ideas. However, paragraphing is slightly disjointed, with some very short, single-sentence paragraphs that disrupt the natural flow. Additionally, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'Which is most inspire thing' starting a new sentence fragment. Nevertheless, the progression of ideas is generally easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating personal thoughts and opinions using common words and phrases like 'connected with it', 'real stories', and 'simple and inspiring'. However, there are numerous word-choice and spelling errors that detract from the writing, such as 'strugle' for struggle, 'desire goals' for desired goals, 'creater' for creator, and 'appricate' for appreciate. These lexical inaccuracies and non-standard collocations limit the score, though communication is rarely impeded entirely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures. For example, you successfully used subordinate clauses in sentences like 'I believe this book could influence other people... because its message is simple and inspiring.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including tense and word-form issues ('who strugle', 'who push his self', 'all aged people become inspire', 'who to about dreams', 'as compareto before'). Punctuation and spacing errors (e.g., missing spaces after commas and periods) also occur regularly, which places the writing firmly in the Band 5 category.

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