Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Dear sir or madam,

I am writing to share my views about a book that had had a great influence on my life. The book is The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent peale.

The book is mainly about the bimportance of having a positive attitude, believing in youself and facing difficulties with confidence. It explains how positive thinking can help people overcome challenges and achieve their goals. It also encourages readers to remain calm and never lose hope during difficult times.

This book has influenced me in several ways. Before reading it, I often felt nervous when I faced challenges. However, after reading it, I learned to look at problems from a different perspective and focus on finding solutions. It taughts me that every cloud has a silver lining and that failure is a stepping stone to success. As a result, I have become more confident and motivated in my daily life.

I would highly recommend this book to your readers because its message is simple, inspring and useful.

Yours faithfully,

Mamta

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You address all three points clearly: you identify The Power of Positive Thinking, summarise its message, explain how it changed your response to challenges, and recommend it to readers. The personal contrast between feeling nervous before reading and becoming more confident afterwards gives your explanation relevant support. Your recommendation is clear, but the final point could be developed further: you say the book is likely to be useful, without explaining which kinds of readers might benefit or why its message could affect them. A little more specific detail about the book’s influence on others would make the response more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter is organised in a clear sequence: introduction, description of the book, personal influence, and recommendation. Paragraphing supports this progression, and linking expressions such as “However,” “As a result,” and “because” help show relationships between ideas. The contrast between your earlier nervousness and later confidence is especially easy to follow. To make the cohesion more flexible, vary some of the repeated references to “the book” and connect the recommendation more explicitly to the earlier explanation of its message. The closing is appropriate for a formal letter, though the final paragraph is brief compared with the preceding discussion.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “positive attitude,” “overcome challenges,” “different perspective,” and “motivated.” These phrases communicate the book’s ideas and your personal response clearly. There are also attempts at expressive language, such as “every cloud has a silver lining” and “a stepping stone to success.” However, spelling and word-choice slips reduce precision: “bimportance,” “youself,” “peale,” and “inspring” should be corrected, and “simple” could be replaced with a more precise description of the book’s message. Aim to proofread carefully and choose a few more specific terms to describe how the book may affect different readers.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, and several sentences are controlled well, including “Before reading it, I often felt nervous when I faced challenges” and “As a result, I have become more confident and motivated in my daily life.” The contrast and time relationships are generally clear, and errors do not prevent understanding. Some grammatical inaccuracies remain, notably “had had a great influence,” where the repeated past perfect is unnecessary, and “It taughts me,” which should be “It taught me.” The sentence “believing in youself” also needs a grammatically correct form such as “believing in yourself.” More consistent control of verb forms and proofreading would strengthen accuracy while retaining your sentence variety.

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