Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-17

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The table below gives information about the five small companies in Britain that came top in a survey of staff conducted by a national newspaper to find out which companies are the best to work for.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

THE FIVE BEST SMALL COMPANIES TO WORK FOR

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The table illustrates the information about the five different small companies in Britain that came top in a survey of staff conducted by a national newspaper to find out which companies are the best to work.

Overall, the company achieves first number despite having less number of workers and a minimal income compare to other companies because staff turnover has an insignificant percentage, while last company's staff turnover records the highest proportion.

To begin with, first company has only 56 workforce, female is also higher than male, the most of people are under 35 age. Staff turnover accounts for 5% which was the smallest among all companies. High income bracket also showed a moderation percentage. These are the reasons that this company receive the first number.

Turning to second, third and fourth companies, those have equally numbers of workers and include more number of the females except third company. Staff turnover is only 8% for third company and the remaining companies represent 18 % and 13% respectively. High income bracket also the greatest in second and third company.

In addition, last company, it has largest workforce around 190 people and male numbers are more who are under 35 age. Staff turnover has the highest 33% and the smallest high income bracket only 2%.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all requirements of the task by identifying the main features and making relevant comparisons. You successfully highlight the contrast between the top-ranked company and the last one regarding staff turnover and income. However, the overview is slightly underdeveloped; while you mention the first and last companies, you could have provided a more comprehensive summary of the trends across all five. Some data points, such as the specific gender ratios, are mentioned but not always clearly linked to the overall comparison. To improve, ensure that your overview captures the most significant trends rather than just specific data points, and ensure all comparisons are clearly supported by the provided figures.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the information. You use some cohesive devices like 'To begin with', 'Turning to', and 'In addition' to transition between ideas. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'those have equally numbers of workers'. The progression of ideas is generally logical, but the flow between sentences could be smoother. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices more naturally and ensure that pronouns and references clearly point back to the intended subjects.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing you to describe the data effectively. You use terms like 'staff turnover', 'workforce', and 'income bracket' correctly. However, there are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'first number' instead of 'first place' or 'moderation percentage' instead of 'moderate percentage'. These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of your writing. To improve, focus on learning common collocations and using more precise terminology when describing statistical data, such as 'proportion' or 'percentage' rather than repeating 'number'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you attempt to use comparative structures, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('the first company', 'the last company'), pluralization ('equally numbers'), and subject-verb agreement ('this company receive'). Some sentences are also slightly fragmented or lack necessary prepositions. While these errors rarely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, pay closer attention to basic grammatical rules such as article usage and verb endings, and try to incorporate more complex sentence structures with greater accuracy.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.