Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-16

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

THE FIVE BEST SMALL COMPANIES TO WORK FOR

Student answer (Band 5.0)

The table illustrates the information about a survey of staff that was arranged by a national newspaper for the sake of finding excellent working companies.It demonstrates the five small companies in Britain that was on the top.

Overall, data arranged according to position, their male female ratio, the staff numbers, the staff turnover ,age of the staff and high income categories of the companies. The company at the top has compareable values of all categories to the othe companies.

The group that was on the top has staff members 56, their male and female ratio was 30:70 and over 55s workers were 0% while 35s aged members were 77%. In this company staff turn over was 5% that was less compared to all other 4 top companies. The group at 5th position had highest staff turnover 33% .

The samll business setup which was at 5th position has almost equal contribution of male female staff but all members were under 35 of age group members their high income bracket was 2% lowest in contrast to all other competatiors. The company on the top has less staff 56% much less than the company on 5th number whie other three listed companies have almost equall members.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.5
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to summarise the main features of the table, covering categories such as staff numbers, turnover, male-female ratio, age groups, and income brackets. However, the response contains several inaccuracies and misinterpretations of the data. For instance, the student states that the 5th position company had "all members under 35 of age group", whereas the table shows 93% for under 35s and 0% for over 55s. Furthermore, the phrasing "has less staff 56% much less than the company on 5th number" misinterprets the absolute staff numbers (56 versus 190) as percentages. While an overview is attempted, it is awkwardly phrased and lacks clarity regarding key trends. Because of these factual inaccuracies and underdeveloped comparisons, the task achievement is limited.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response is divided into four paragraphs, attempting an introduction, an overview, and body details. However, the logical progression is weak. The overview merely lists the table categories rather than highlighting main trends, and it contains awkward grouping. Cohesive devices are minimal, repetitive, and occasionally incorrect (e.g., "The group that was on the top...", "The samll business setup which was at 5th position..."). Paragraphing is attempted, but sentences within paragraphs feel disjointed and lack smooth transitions. Referencing is sometimes unclear, making it difficult to follow the comparisons between the companies.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with several spelling and word-choice errors. Examples of awkward collocation and spelling errors include "compareable", "turn over", "samll", and "competatiors". The student attempts some less common vocabulary such as "contribution", "bracket", and "turnover", but lacks the precision and control needed for higher bands. While the terminology of the table is partially utilized, frequent lexical inaccuracies cause some strain for the reader and limit the precision of the data reporting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The response exhibits a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple sentences and basic subject-verb-object constructions. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including tense inconsistencies, missing articles, and awkward phrasing such as "that was arranged by a national newspaper for the sake of finding excellent working companies" and "the company on the top has less staff 56% much less than the company on 5th number whie other three listed companies have almost equall members." Punctuation errors, such as missing spaces after periods, are also present. These frequent errors frequently impede smooth reading.

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.