Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-22

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 Sir or Madam,

I am writing to request to add a persuasive experience about a book called 'Deep in the Ocean' in your article called 'The book that influenced me most'. This book is all about the life expercience of a woman who was a mother of two children and faces many challenges throughout her life to raise her children. She was belong a middle-class family and the events that happened in her life were truly unpredictable. Although, she went through many ups and down in her life, she was a perfect mother and a responsible daughter.

This book has played a very influential role in my life. I have learned various strategies and develop technical-mindset which the woman took in order to give sustainable and beautiful lives for family. Moreover, the story also has mix of emotions for example, some sad and laughter day which anybody could relate in their life.

Furthermore, this book is available in my college library and many students eager to read and learn from it. Few of my colleague share their experience that how they are moving in their ways and have good command on their feeling and emotions. Therefore, I would appreciate if the reference of this book would also catches the readers attention.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Sehrish.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions. You successfully stated that you wanted to contribute a review of the book 'Deep in the Ocean', described the plot concerning a mother of two facing life challenges, and explained how it influenced your mindset and emotional control. Additionally, you touched upon whether it would influence others by mentioning students in your college library. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or expressed with a bit of ambiguity, such as the exact nature of the influence and the relevance of colleagues. Despite these minor limitations, the communicative purpose is clearly met and all parts of the prompt are addressed, fitting comfortably into the Band 6.0 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with standard letter formatting, opening with 'Dear Sir or Madam,' and closing appropriately. Paragraphing is used to separate the introduction, the book description, its personal influence, the effect on others, and the sign-off. However, cohesive devices are at times mechanical or somewhat faulty, as seen in transitions like 'Moreover' and 'Therefore' which do not always link ideas with complete naturalness. Referencing is mostly clear, but the progression between sentences occasionally feels abrupt, reflecting the characteristics of a Band 6.0 performance.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common phrases such as 'sustainable and beautiful lives' and 'technical-mindset'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text. For example, 'request to add a persuasive experience' is unnatural, 'She was belong a middle-class family' contains a grammatical verb error affecting word choice, and 'mix of emotions for example, some sad and laughter day' contains collocation and pluralisation errors. These errors do not impede overall communication, placing your lexical resource at a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The text contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms. You attempted some longer, multi-clause sentences, such as 'Although, she went through many ups and down in her life, she was a perfect mother and a responsible daughter.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors in verb forms and sentence structure, including 'She was belong', 'life expercience', 'many students eager to read', and 'how they are moving in their ways'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and the meaning remains clear despite the errors. These features align well with the criteria for Band 5.5.

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