Your friend has had his/her first book published a few days ago. He/she has recently sent you a copy of that book. Write a letter to this friend. In your letter: - congratulate him/her for having his/her first book published - thank your friend for sending you a copy of the book - say what do you think about the book
Sample Response
Dear Charles, You must be pretty excited to have your first book published so soonwithin such a short time after finishing itafter finishing writing it. It is indeed such a great achievementachievement of yours, and I surely would like to congratulate you oncongratulate you on the occasion of such an amazing success. I would also likeI also would like to thank you for sending me a copy of this book so promptlyright away with your special signature on it. Anyway, I've already read your book, and I must tell you that I'm truly impressed with your novel-writing skillsnovel writing skills and abilities. I knew that you were passionate about writing stories, but I just didn’t think that you'd be able to write a novel with such ease and impacteffect. The narrator (the main character) of your novel was very engaging while the other characters around himit were as natural and lively as they could get. The cover designThe caption of the book under the picture of a beautiful and playful rabbit is very appealingillustrative, and the plot has just about enough twists and turns to engage the readers from beginningstart to end. All in all, it is a great book. I'm sure this is the first book of many more marvellous booksa series of marvellous writings that we will see in the future. Warm wishes, Adam
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter responds warmly and completely, offering clear congratulations, sincere thanks, and a developed personal reaction to the book. Its main limitation is that a single dense block and repeated praise weaken the flow, while some literary-review expressions sound inaccurate or unnatural; prioritise purposeful paragraphing, then replace those phrases with precise, idiomatic vocabulary and proofread the remaining minor language slips.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter congratulates the friend, thanks them for the copy, and gives an opinion of the book.
Keep the relevant content, then revise the wording and organisation points highlighted in the essay comments.
Coherence and Cohesion
The progression is friendly and clear, but the one-block format and repeated praise make the middle dense.
Use clearer paragraphing and smoother links so each bullet point is easy to follow.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is warm and varied, though some literary-review wording is inaccurate or unnatural.
Prefer natural collocations and precise topic vocabulary over overformal or translated-sounding phrases.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Grammar is generally controlled, with minor preposition, pronoun and noun-choice issues.
Proofread tense, articles, prepositions and sentence boundaries before submitting.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your friend has had his/her first book published a few days ago. He/she has recently sent you a copy of that book. Write a letter to this friend. In your letter:
- congratulate him/her for having his/her first book published
- thank your friend for sending you a copy of the book
- say what do you think about the book
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.