Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-15

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 in connection with your article named 'The book that influenced me most' and to bring your attention to my favourite book ' Forty rules of love'.

'Forty rules of love' written by Alif Shafak is a spirtual book that tells about the ture meaning of love. In addition, this book teaches that people should love each other without making judgments, for instance, the story of a drinker influenced me so much when I read about the hardships of his life and how everyone hated him for his drinking habit without realising his troubles.

I read this book two years ago and I stopped judging people by any visual sin without knowing the reason behind committing that sin. Futhermore, I learnt to help people in their difficult times because guinine love demands sacrifice and devotion.

In my opinion, people can change their lives positively and spirtually by reading and understanding the objective of this book. Therefore, I strongly recommend this book to every reader as it would alleviate the negative emotions such as judgment, criticism, and hatefulness among people by teaching love and peace.

I would appreciate it if you could add 'Forty rules of love' in your article.

I am looking forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,

Rubab Asim

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You address all three points clearly: you describe the book’s message about love, explain how the story of the drinker changed your attitude towards judging others, and state that other readers could benefit from it. The personal example gives your response a clear position and relevant support, while the recommendation to the editor suits the purpose of the letter. The claim that readers can change “positively and spiritually” is relevant, though broad; a more specific example of how another reader might respond would develop this point further. Overall, the task is fully addressed with ideas extended and supported, although the prediction about the book’s effect on others is somewhat generalised.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear progression: you introduce the book, describe its message, explain its personal influence, and then recommend it to the magazine. Paragraphing supports this sequence, and linking expressions such as “In addition,” “Furthermore,” and “Therefore” help connect the ideas. This is a coherent overall arrangement. However, several transitions are quite formulaic, and the long sentence beginning “for instance” combines the book’s message with the drinker’s story, making the relationship between those points less easy to follow. The final request and sign-off are appropriate. To make the organisation more fluent, separate the example into its own sentence and use a few more natural links between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “hardships,” “sacrifice and devotion,” and “negative emotions.” These choices help convey the book’s themes and your response to them. There are also some inaccurate spellings and word choices, such as “spirtual,” “ture,” “guinine,” and “visual sin,” which reduce precision; “visual sin” is especially unclear in this context. Phrases such as “objective of this book” and “alleviate … hatefulness” are understandable but not fully natural. The meaning remains clear overall, and you show an attempt to use less common vocabulary, but more accurate spelling and collocation would make the letter more fluent and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including the relative clause “that tells about…” and the conditional structure “it would alleviate…”. Most sentences communicate your meaning, and the letter’s grammar does not prevent understanding. Some errors remain, however. In “I stopped judging people by any visual sin without knowing the reason behind committing that sin,” the structure is awkward and the reference to “that sin” is unclear. The sentence beginning “for instance” is also long and would be easier to control if divided. Check article use and punctuation in phrases such as “the true meaning of love” and around the quoted book title. Greater control of sentence boundaries and phrasing would strengthen accuracy.

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