Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-23

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,

Our magazine wants to include contributions from lovers of the book

I am writing this letter regarding the book which was about the struggles of different people and the name of that book was 'The book that influenced me most' which was written with the help of the readers contributions because they shared their own experiences and we want to mention it in our magazine.

Moreover,people got inspired a lot after this book because diffrent people has shared there own struggle experiences that how they got succeded in their life.In addition to this,they also included the success stories of some famous celebrities as well as some athletes the people who are seen as role model by majority of the people.

At last i think this book will inspire a lot of people because it not only share the experiences of the people but also the problems which they faced in their journey.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours Sincerely

Harman

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You attempted all parts of the prompt by describing a book about people's struggles, explaining how it inspired readers, and predicting its future impact. However, there is a significant misinterpretation of the task: you wrote as if you were the editor or publisher of the magazine rather than a reader contributing to it ('we want to mention it in our magazine'). This persona confusion means your position is not fully clear throughout. Furthermore, the details about the book are slightly contradictory and confused, as you stated the book's name was 'The book that influenced me most' and that it was written with reader contributions. Despite these structural and role issues, the bullet points are touched upon, leading to a Band 5.5 score.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The letter lacks appropriate paragraphing for a standard correspondence, combining several distinct ideas into dense blocks. Cohesive devices are used mechanically or are missing, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun shifts and confusing the book's title with the magazine article's title. While there is a basic chronological progression from describing the book to explaining its influence and giving a concluding thought, the organizational structure is weak and repetitive in places ('experiences of the people', 'struggle experiences'). This overall arrangement aligns with Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is limited and repetitive. Phrases such as 'struggle experiences', 'got inspired a lot', and 'success stories' are basic. There are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'diffrent people has shared there own struggle experiences that how they got succeded in their life'. Spelling errors like 'diffrent', 'succeded', and punctuation spacing errors (missing spaces after commas) are evident. However, the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey your general meaning to the reader, which places your lexical resource at a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You demonstrate a limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on long, run-on sentences connected by conjunctions like 'and' or 'because' rather than controlled complex clauses. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('people has shared') and tense inconsistencies ('it not only share'). Punctuation and capitalization are also problematic, particularly at the beginning of the letter ('Dear Sir,' followed immediately by a confused opening statement without proper greeting conventions). These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a Band 5.0 level.

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