Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-14

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 provides the information of five small companies in Britain conducted a survey of staff to find out best companies to work for.

Overall, the striking aspects shown in the figure is that the 5th position company contains the most of the staffs in numbers, genders, ages, turnovers and high income brackets whereas 1st ranked company are least popular among these categories.

In detail, the 5th ranked company recorded the highest number of staffs with 190, while this number is least popular in 1st ranked commpany. The 1st, 2nd and 4th positioned company have less number of male staff copared to female staff whereas the 3rd and 5th company have more female staffs than male. The ration of under 35s were the most famous stafffs in all the five companies.

Moreover, the total percentage of staff turnover was significantly hig

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The student attempts to provide an overview of the table data, but the response falls significantly short of the required 150-word minimum, stopping abruptly at 141 words. Because the length requirement is not met, a penalty must be applied to Task Achievement. Furthermore, the content contains numerous factual inaccuracies regarding the source data; for instance, stating that the 5th position company contains the most staff in all categories is incorrect, as staff numbers and breakdowns vary widely across the table. While the writer attempts to select main features, such as mentioning the highest number of staff at 190 and drawing comparisons regarding gender and age, the lack of accurate reporting and the incomplete nature of the response mean it aligns with a band 4.5 descriptor.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response has an identifiable introduction and attempts to use overarching phrases like 'Overall,' and 'In detail,'. However, the logical progression is hindered by inaccurate data reporting and confusing phrasing, such as 'the 5th position company contains the most of the staffs in numbers, genders, ages, turnovers and high income brackets'. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final paragraph cuts off mid-sentence ('Moreover, the total percentage of staff turnover was significantly hig'), severely impacting the overall cohesion and structural integrity of the essay. Referencing and cohesive devices are somewhat mechanical and at times confusing, limiting the score to a band 5.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is generally basic and repetitive. Phrases like 'small companies in Britain', 'highest number of staffs', and 'least popular' demonstrate a limited range. There are also several lexical errors and inappropriate word choices, such as 'staffs' (staff is usually uncountable in this context), 'commpany' (spelling error), 'copared' (spelling error), and 'the ration of under 35s were the most famous stafffs'. Words are used incorrectly to describe statistical data, such as referring to age groups as being 'famous'. The lexical range is minimally adequate for the task, but frequent errors place this at a band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'The table provides the information of five small companies... and 'while this number is least popular in 1st ranked commpany.' However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in prepositions ('information of' instead of 'information about', 'conducted a survey' instead of 'that conducted a survey'), subject-verb agreement ('the 1st, 2nd and 4th positioned company have' instead of 'companies have'), and spelling. Additionally, the unfinished final sentence demonstrates a lack of control over complex clause structures. These persistent errors can cause some difficulty for the reader, justifying a band 5.0.

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