Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-10

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 6.0)

Dear sir,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to tell you about the book that really influenced me the most, it is none other than "The Power of Positive Thinking. I just want to contribute to your magazine article called 'The book that influenced me most'.

This book explains how positive thoughts, self-confiidence and determination helps to overcome difficulties, and to achieve a goal. It also provides practical advices how to reduce stress, building confidence and maintain positive attitude to get success.

The main reason why I love this book that it totally change my way of thinking and handling problems. Initially, I was very stressed person and unable to take my own decision because I totally depends on others. But this book, helps to how to stay positive and handle any kind issues.

I really believe that this book will also put positive impack on other individuals and they will definately get success in their life.

I hope you will also read this book, and gice to some feedback.

Your faithfully,

Sunny

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three points: you identify the book, explain its message about positive thinking, and describe how it changed your approach to problems. The personal contrast between being stressed and relying on others, then learning to handle difficulties more positively, gives the letter a relevant foundation. You also state that other readers could benefit. However, that final prediction is asserted rather than explained, and the book’s content and your personal change could be developed with a specific example. The opening and closing suit a letter to an editor, although the request for feedback is less relevant than inviting the magazine to consider your contribution. More detail and support would make the ideas feel more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall sequence: it introduces the purpose, describes the book, explains its personal effect, and considers its effect on others. Separate paragraphs help the reader follow these stages, and phrases such as “Initially” and “But this book” signal a change in your experience. Some connections are less smooth, however. The first sentence joins the purpose and the book title with a comma, while “The main reason why I love this book” does not connect clearly to the preceding explanation. The final paragraph moves quickly from a general prediction to asking the editor to read the book. Use more precise links between cause and result, and make each paragraph’s progression explicit, rather than relying mainly on basic transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “positive thoughts,” “determination,” “overcome difficulties,” and “reduce stress,” so the main message is understandable. There are also attempts to express personal impact, such as “handling problems” and “stay positive.” However, several word-choice, collocation, word-form, and spelling errors reduce precision: “practical advices,” “positive impack,” “definately,” and “gice” are examples. Some phrases are also unnatural, including “get success” and “put positive impact on other individuals.” These issues keep the vocabulary from showing consistent control, even though the intended meaning is generally clear. Learn common collocations and check spelling and word forms carefully; more precise expressions would make the letter sound more natural and assured.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a sentence explaining what the book teaches and a contrast between your earlier and current outlook. The overall meaning remains understandable, but some grammatical errors occur across the response. For example, “determination helps” does not agree with the plural subject, and “The main reason why I love this book that…” is missing a necessary clause structure. In “Initially, I was very stressed person,” an article is needed, while “I totally depends on others” has a subject–verb agreement error. The sentence beginning “But this book, helps to how…” is also structurally unclear. Practise building complete clauses and checking agreement, articles, and verb forms; greater accuracy in these areas would make your varied sentence attempts more effective.

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