Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-17

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 compare five small companies ranked as the best employers in terms of numbers of staff , gender balance ,age , staff turnover and high income staff . The 5th company has by far the most staff. The 3rd company ranked has the heightest paid staff , while the first has best staff. The top 3 companies employ 56 to 79 people .The 1st company is female dominated at 70 percent , whereas the 3rd is male domination at 74 percent.In terms of age over three quarters of staff in the 1st and 3rd compay are under 35 , with the 3rd having the highest figure at 82 percent . The 1st company has the lowest staff turnover at 5 percent , while the 3rd has the highest proportion of staff in the heigh income bracket at 74 percent .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to cover the main features of the table, noting details such as staff numbers, gender balance, age brackets, staff turnover, and high income proportions. However, the response falls short of the 150-word minimum, containing only 141 words, which incurs a penalty. Furthermore, there are some inaccurate reporting and sweeping generalisations, such as stating that 'the first has best staff', which is a subjective and unsupported claim based on survey position rather than data. While key figures are mentioned (e.g., the 5th company having 190 staff and the 3rd having 74 percent in the high income bracket), the overall selection and development of data points remain somewhat limited and lack a cohesive overview.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response is written as a single dense paragraph rather than being appropriately structured into an introduction, overview, and body paragraphs. This lack of proper paragraphing significantly hampers the overall organisation and visual clarity. While there are some basic cohesive devices used (such as 'whereas', 'while', and 'in terms of'), referencing and transitions are at times clunky or repetitive. There is no clear overall progression or distinct separation between introductory points and detailed comparisons, placing this response firmly in the mid-to-lower bands for coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary relevant to the table data, including terms such as 'staff turnover', 'proportion', 'gender balance', and 'income bracket'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors ('heightest' instead of highest, 'domination' instead of dominated, 'compay' instead of company, 'heigh' instead of high) and awkward phrasing ('the first has best staff'). These lexical inaccuracies occasionally strain the reader, though the vocabulary remains minimally adequate for the task.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using comparative and concessive clauses such as 'while the first has best staff' and 'whereas the third is male domination at 74 percent'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, with frequent errors including subject-verb agreement issues ('The table compare'), missing articles, and incorrect word forms ('male domination' instead of dominated). Punctuation is also poorly handled, with spacing errors around commas and periods throughout the text. These errors require some effort to decode.

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