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 or Madam,

I am writing in response to the article "the book that influenced me most" and to kindly request to include my contribution to this article.

I would like to share a book that has a great influence on me and the title of this book is "Rich dad poor dad". This book is written by two great authors, Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter.

The book tells different stories about success and failure, and also enlist various successful individuals who once struggled and achieved their goals by working hard.

This book has motivated me a lot and have also shown me various examples that proves failure is not an end. There have been a lot of hurdles in my career and there were times when i was feeling stressed and drowning. But, i have always come up stronger after reading this book.

Nowadays, various individuals are struggling to make their career successful due to the cut-throat competition. I firmly believe that this book will give them motivation and strength to achieve their goals. When they will learn the stories of real personalities who were once at the same phase in their life as they are now, they will be able to relate and learn valuable lessons from them.

Therefore, I sincerely request you to please consider my suggestion and provide me an opportunity to contribute to this article.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three points: you identify *Rich Dad Poor Dad*, summarise its message about success and failure, explain how it helped you through career difficulties, and say why others might benefit. The personal detail about feeling “stressed and drowning” makes the influence clear. This meets the task well, while the explanation of the book itself is less fully developed: the description remains general and does not give a specific lesson or example from the book. The prediction about its effect on other readers is relevant, but is also broad. To strengthen the response, include one concrete idea from the book and explain how it changed a particular decision or attitude in your life.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall progression: you introduce your purpose, describe the book, explain its personal effect, and then consider its value to other readers before closing. Paragraphing supports this sequence, and links such as “But” and “Therefore” help the reader follow the argument. Some connections are less smooth or precise, however. The opening request to “include my contribution” is followed by a second statement of the same purpose, and the final request repeats the idea of contributing. The long sentence beginning “When they will learn” also carries several related ideas at once. Reduce repeated purpose statements and divide or reshape longer sentences so each paragraph develops its point more cleanly.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for the topic, including phrases such as “achieved their goals,” “hurdles in my career,” and “cut-throat competition.” These help communicate both personal difficulty and the book’s possible relevance to readers. There are also attempts at more expressive language, such as “come up stronger,” though some choices are imprecise or unnatural: “stories about success and failure” is broad, and “at the same phase in their life” is not an idiomatic way to describe a similar situation. “Enlist” is also not the best verb for presenting examples. Aim for more precise collocations and vary repeated words such as “book,” “stories,” and “goals”; this would make the letter sound more fluent and controlled.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex forms, including relative clauses (“who once struggled”) and a conditional structure (“When they will learn…”). The meaning remains clear, but some errors in agreement, verb form, and sentence construction limit accuracy. For example, “This book has motivated me a lot and have also shown me” should keep the singular subject with “has shown,” while “examples that proves” should be “examples that prove.” In “When they will learn,” use “When they learn” for a future time clause. Capitalise “I” consistently, and check punctuation around the opening sentence and the final request. Revising these patterns would improve control while preserving your range of sentence forms.

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