Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-12

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 tabular chart provides information about the five best small companies in Britain that stood top in a survey of staff conducted by a national newspaper to find out which companies are the best to work for.

Overall, the survey has been conducted on five different aspects. 5th standing company had the largest number of workers, still it had highest staff turnover ratio. In contrast, first positioned company consisted of lowest number of employees.

In detail, company securing 5th position had 190 workers, followed by company second, fourth and third at 79, 76 and 72 respectively. Similarly, the highest difference in male/female ratio was observed in 4th company i.e. 13/87, while 5th company had the best combination of male and female workers by 51/49 ratio.

Likewise, company at 5th position consisted of young and energetic staffs containing about 93% under age 35. However, 4th company has recorded lowest percentage at 26. The survey found that 5th company recorded highest staff turnover ratio at 33%. About 74% of labor have been included in the list of highest income earning staffs at 3rd company.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the prompt well, providing an overview and selecting key data points to report and compare. The student successfully highlights extremes, such as the highest and lowest employee counts and staff turnover ratios. However, referring to companies simply by their ranking (e.g., '5th standing company', 'company securing 5th position') rather than naming them or using clear identifying features makes the report slightly harder to follow than expected at higher bands. Furthermore, some data points are presented as a list without sufficient integration into meaningful comparisons. Nevertheless, all parts of the prompt are addressed, and the key trends are reported adequately, fulfilling the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to group information logically into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. Paragraphing is used to separate different aspects of the survey data. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or overused, such as the repetitive transitions 'In detail', 'Similarly', and 'Likewise'. Additionally, referencing is occasionally imprecise, leading to minor ambiguity in which company is being discussed. Despite these flaws, the progression of information remains generally clear throughout, aligning with the descriptors for Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying numerical data and survey attributes such as 'turnover ratio', 'male/female ratio', and 'income earning staffs'. The student attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'energetic', 'combination', and 'substantial', but encounters some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, for example, writing 'staffs' instead of 'staff' and 'stood top' instead of 'came top'. While there are a few lexical errors, they do not impede communication, placing the response firmly at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writing exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including relative clauses and comparative structures (e.g., 'The tabular chart provides information about...'). There are, however, several grammatical errors throughout the text, such as missing articles ('at 3rd company', 'at 5th company'), incorrect verb tenses ('has recorded'), and awkward prepositional usage ('containing about 93% under age 35'). Although these errors occur with some frequency, the meaning remains mostly clear and communication is rarely impeded, which is characteristic of a Band 6.0 performance.

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

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