Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-27

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/Madam,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter to inform you about the book that influenced me the most.

Firstly, I would like to let you know that the book is related to meditation and the name of the book is Karma. Basically, in this book I saw how individuals learn to stay calm in every situation. In this book you can read real stories of other individuals.

Secondly, This book helps me to stay relaxed and motivated in my up and downs. Whenever, I feel stressed I read this book and this makes my mind active. Furthermore, I would suggest that everyone should read this book as it helps to encoruage individuals if they are feeling low. I would really appreciate if you could tell individuals about this book in your magzine I would also suggest you to go through this book.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Ayush

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all three points: you identify Karma as a book about meditation and real-life stories, explain that you read it when stressed, and recommend it to readers who feel low. The personal effect—helping you stay calm and motivated—is relevant, and the recommendation gives the letter a clear purpose. However, the book’s content is only briefly described, and the claim that it could influence “everyone” is broad rather than supported with a specific reason or example. Develop one concrete lesson or story from the book and explain how it changed your behaviour; also clarify which readers are most likely to benefit. This would make the ideas more fully extended.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The letter has a clear overall arrangement: an opening, a paragraph about the book, a paragraph about its influence and recommendation, and an appropriate closing. “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “Furthermore” help signal the sequence, so the reader can follow the main points. At times, however, these transitions feel mechanical, and the second main paragraph combines your personal experience, a general recommendation, and a request to the editor without a clear separation. The repeated phrase “In this book” also makes the progression less smooth. Group the book’s content, your personal response, and your recommendation more distinctly, and use a wider range of natural links and references to improve flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for communicating the topic and your feelings, with relevant expressions such as “stay calm,” “feel stressed,” and “motivated.” The reader can understand your recommendation and the book’s general subject. However, several choices are repetitive or imprecise: “individuals” appears repeatedly where “people” or “readers” would sound more natural, and “my up and downs” is not the usual expression. There are also spelling errors in “encoruage” and “magzine,” which reduce accuracy. Aim for more precise descriptions of the book’s lessons and vary repeated words. Greater control of collocation and spelling would make the vocabulary more natural and flexible.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple sentences and some longer structures, including “Whenever I feel stressed, I read this book and this makes my mind active” and the clause beginning “as it helps…”. Most of the message remains understandable, and the letter’s basic sentence patterns are controlled. Some errors in tense, punctuation, and sentence construction remain. For example, “This book helps me” would be more consistent as “This book has helped me” when describing its influence to date; “Whenever,” should not be followed by a comma before the clause; and the final request to the editor runs together without clear punctuation. Practise accurate complex sentences and check sentence boundaries and tense consistency.

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