Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-14

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/Madam,

I am writing this letter to share my thoughts about a book that has influenced me the most .The book i would recommend is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

The book tells the story of young shepherd named Santiago who travels from Spain to Egypt

in search of hidden treasure . During his journey , he meets different people and faces several challenges that teach him valuable lessons about life, courage ,and following his dreams .

This book had significant influence on my life because it taught me to believe in myself and never give up on my goals . Before reading it, I often worried about failure and was hesitant to take risks. However, After seeing Santiago's experience in his journey helped me understand the value of natural part of success and every experience can teach us differently .Since then, i tried to remain positive and work harder toward my achieving my ambitions .

In my opinion, this book could influence many other people , especially young readers who are uncertain about their future . Its simple language and inspiring message to make it suitable for people from different backgrounds.

Thank you for fiving readers an opportunity to share their experience

Yours sincerely,

Divya

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You address all three points clearly: you describe Santiago’s search for treasure, explain that the story encouraged you to believe in yourself and persist, and identify young people uncertain about their future as likely readers to benefit. The personal example about previously fearing failure helps extend your explanation, and the letter has an appropriate purpose and closing. The discussion of influence on other people is relevant, but remains somewhat general: “its simple language and inspiring message” is not supported with a specific reason or example of how readers might respond. Developing that point further, while keeping the clear focus on the book’s influence, would make the response more fully supported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The letter is organised in a clear sequence: introduction, plot summary, personal influence, likely influence on others, and closing. Paragraphing supports this progression, and links such as “During his journey,” “Before reading it,” and “Since then” help readers follow the ideas. The contrast between your earlier worries and later attitude is especially easy to understand. Some connections are less smooth, however: the sentence beginning “However, After seeing…” combines ideas awkwardly, and spacing and punctuation around full stops and commas sometimes interrupt the flow. Use transitions to show the relationship between ideas, but check that each sentence expresses one complete, logically connected thought.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for the topic, including relevant expressions such as “hidden treasure,” “faces several challenges,” “hesitant to take risks,” and “inspiring message.” These choices communicate the book’s themes and your response to them. There are also some inaccurate or unnatural word choices and collocations, such as “the value of natural part of success,” “toward my achieving my ambitions,” and “Thank you for fiving readers.” Spelling and capitalisation are inconsistent too, as in “fiving” and lowercase “i.” These do not prevent the reader from understanding your main points, but more precise phrasing and careful proofreading would make the vocabulary more natural and controlled.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including relative clauses (“who travels from Spain to Egypt”) and a conditional idea about the book’s potential influence. Most of the message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors occur. For example, “the story of young shepherd” needs an article, while “After seeing Santiago's experience in his journey helped me understand” has an unclear, faulty sentence structure. The sentence about the book’s language and message also needs a grammatical link before “make it suitable.” Capital letters and punctuation are inconsistent, including “After” after a comma and missing spaces around sentence boundaries. Review articles, clause structure, and sentence punctuation to improve accuracy.

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