Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-30

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 this letter in response to give my feedback for an article called " The book that influenced me most. I personally enjoyed biography books and the one which admires me the most is the biography of Sher-E-Punjab (Maharaja Ranjit Singh). Thie book is all about a famous sikh ruler who established the Sikh Empire in Punjab.

This book taught me several life lessons. Firstly, I learned the real meaning of equality as it taught me to treat everyone equally, no matter a person is rich or poor. Secondly, it encouraged me to do hardwork and never give up. This is because, Maharaja Ranjit singh was a disabled child but still he never giveup on his dream to become a military leader.

This book is very knowledgeble book and I personally believe that it will engage people more as it will teach them to fight with their fears and life problems and not to run away. Also, this will help them to stay motivated. I would love to recommend this book to the sikh community.

Thank you for considering my contribution.

Yours faithfully,

Harman

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You successfully addressed all three bullet points required in the prompt. You described the book regarding the biography of Sher-E-Punjab (Maharaja Ranjit Singh) and what it was about. You clearly explained how the book influenced you by teaching you lessons about equality and perseverance, noting that the ruler 'was a disabled child but still he never giveup on his dream'. Finally, you discussed whether it would be likely to influence other people by stating it would help them stay motivated and face life problems. Your tone is appropriate for a magazine contribution letter, and the purpose is clear from the beginning. You have fulfilled all requirements of this criterion well, earning a solid band score.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

Your letter has a clear overall structure and a logical progression of ideas. You used standard paragraphing, separating the introduction, the book description, the personal influence, the potential impact on others, and the sign-off appropriately. You employed some basic cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Also' to structure your supporting points. However, referencing and transitions are at times a bit mechanical, and there are minor structural lapses, such as the dangling quotation mark in the second sentence ('The book that influenced me most.'). Overall, the organization is easy to follow and meets the requirements of a coherent response.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrated an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'contribution', 'biography', 'equality', and 'motivated'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'admires' instead of 'inspires', 'Thie' instead of 'The', 'sikh' with a lowercase letter, 'hardwork' written as one word, and 'knowledgeble' instead of 'knowledgeable'. While these errors do not impede communication, they reflect a limited control over less common lexical items, placing your performance firmly within the band 6 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempted a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as using relative clauses ('the one which admires me the most') and conditional or causal conjunctions ('as it will teach them'). However, your writing contains several grammatical and punctuation errors. For example, there is a missing closing quotation mark after the article title, a tense shift ('Maharaja Ranjit singh was... but still he never giveup' instead of gave up), and capitalization issues like 'sikh'. Additionally, the phrase 'in response to give my feedback' is slightly unnatural. The majority of your simple sentences are clear, but frequent errors in complex structures and mechanics prevent a higher score.

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