Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The table gives information about five British companies attained through survey of employees by national news paper for the purpose to know which company is best to work for.

The table shows staff number, male and female ratio. Staff members which are under 35 and which are over 55, staff turnover and at last staff in high income bracket.

The first company have 56 staff member which have 30:70 male:female ratio whereas 77 percent of staff in under 35 years of age and 0 percent are over 55 year. The staff turnover is 5% and 34% of staff is in high income bracket.

Second company have 79 employees they have 47:53 male to female ratio, 59 percent of staff in under 33 and only 1 percent is over 55 year the staff turnover is 18 percent and 48 of staff is in high salary bracket.

The third company have 72 percent male in contrast to to other 2 company’s it has higher male ratio 74:26 ratio and 82 percent of staff is under 33 no staff member is over 55. The staff turnover is 8% and 74% of them is in high salary bracket.

Fourth company have 76 people working for them and they have 13:87 male female ratio.they 13% employee turnover and 5% of there employees are in high salary bracket.

The fifth company 190 employees in contrast to few other countries they higher male ratio that 51:49 whereas 93% of there staff is under 33 years and 0 in over 55 years they have 33% staff turnover and 2% of them is in high salary bracket which is lowest among companies

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to cover the main features of the table regarding the five small British companies. While the candidate mentions staff numbers, ratios, age distributions, turnover, and high-income brackets, the information is presented in a mechanical, list-like fashion without making sufficient overarching comparisons as requested by the prompt. Several figures contain inaccuracies when compared to standard interpretations of the data, and some categories (such as ages under 33 instead of under 35 in later paragraphs) are misreported. Furthermore, there is no overview provided to synthesize the main trends or differences across the companies. Overall, the response addresses the task partially, fitting the Band 5 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text is organised into distinct paragraphs corresponding roughly to an introduction and individual descriptions of each company. However, the overall progression lacks a cohesive flow due to the lack of an overview and a rigid, repetitive sentence structure ('The first company have...', 'Second company have...'). Cohesive devices are minimal or awkwardly handled, such as 'at last' and 'in contrast to to other 2 company’s'. Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping within sentences creates confusion rather than logical progression. This level of organisation and mechanical cohesion aligns well with a Band 5 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, heavily relying on direct lifts from the prompt and simple terms like 'staff', 'company', 'ratio', and 'percentage'. There are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'attained through survey', 'news paper for the purpose to know', and 'high salary bracket' used inconsistently with 'high income bracket'. Spelling errors are also present, such as 'there' instead of 'their'. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey basic data points, the frequent errors and limited range restrict the score to Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('The first company have', 'company have 79 employees they have'), pluralisation ('staff member', 'other countries'), and missing prepositions or articles. Run-on sentences and comma splices frequently occur, such as in the descriptions of the fourth and fifth companies. These frequent errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader and demonstrate limited structural accuracy, placing the response firmly at Band 5.

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