Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The table illustrates figures about a survey carried out by a national newspaper five small british companies with an objective to find out best organisations to work for. From an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that while the 5th company has the highest number of employees and a fair age distribution, 1st company has the lowest staff turnover ratio and 3rd company has largest proportion of its employees in high income bracket.

Firstly, while 5th company employees the biggest numbers of employees (190), they are also distributed in a gender equal ratio of 51:49 as compared to 3rd corporation which has around 3/4th of its employees as males and 4th organisation that has around 87 females out of every hundred workers. Futhermore, the age distribution proves the 5th company to be very young as it has around 93% workers below 35s, while no one above 55s. Alternatively, 4th organisation has highest workforce in all five of around 8% above 55s while those of 1st and 3rd are 0%.

Then, based on staff turnover ratio, 5th firm has highest ratio of 33%, whereas that of firm 1st is just 5%. And lastly, on the basis of percentage of staff in high income beacket, 3rd institution is a clear winner as it has 74% of its staff in high income category while those of company 4th and company 5th are just 5% and 2%, respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The candidate has covered all parts of the task well by identifying and reporting the main features from the table. An overview is successfully presented in the introduction, highlighting key differences such as staff turnover and high-income proportions. Key data points are selected and contrasted effectively across the companies. For instance, the writer notes that the 5th company has the highest number of employees (190) and youngest age profile, whereas the 3rd company has the largest proportion of high-income employees (74%). While some data points are slightly generalised or could be grouped more smoothly, the response successfully satisfies all requirements of Academic Task 1, demonstrating a clear overview and appropriate data selection.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall progression. It begins with a functional introductory paragraph containing an overview, followed by body paragraphs that group information logically by staff characteristics and figures. Cohesive devices are employed to structure the comparisons, such as 'Firstly', 'Futhermore', 'Alternatively', and 'Then'. However, paragraphing could be slightly more refined, and some transitional links feel a bit mechanical ('And lastly, on the basis of...'). Referencing is mostly clear, but occasional mechanical transitions prevent the text from achieving a higher band. Overall, the organisation is logical and easy to follow throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The candidate uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'proportion', 'distribution', 'workforce', and 'turnover ratio'. There are some attempts at less common lexical items, but also noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as '5th company employees the biggest numbers of employees' (where 'employs' should be used) and 'high income beacket' (a spelling error). Other minor awkward phrases like 'youngest age profile' or 'gender equal ratio' are understood without impeding communication, but the presence of spelling and word-choice errors places this submission firmly at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilising subordinate clauses and comparative structures effectively ('while the 5th company has the highest number...', 'as compared to 3rd corporation which has...'). However, there are several grammatical errors and omissions, including missing articles ('5th company', '1st company', 'highest workforce in all five'), subject-verb agreement issues ('5th company employees' instead of 'employs'), and spelling slips ('Futhermore', 'beacket'). While these errors do not impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the score from reaching Band 7.0.

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.