Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · 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 4.0)

The table illustrates the information about five small companies in Britain that came top in a survive of workers conducted by a national newspaper to find out which organisations are the good to work for.

On the other hand, the information by choosing and reporting the main features, and make comparison where relevant.

In additional, there are different position in survey shows in this table, staff numbers, male,female ratio, under 35s / over 55s, staff turnover, and also staff in high income brackert.

Overall, the first top good small companies to work for staff number, 1st 56 2nd 79, 3rd 72 and,76 190 were excellent rather than others companies and the second best small organisation to work for was extremely decreased male, female ratio, 1, 30,70 2nd 47,53, 3rd 74:26 was highest in position comparison with other and also 13:87, 5th 51:90.

Third, under 35s/ over 55s was popular to work for 1st 77 percent 77 / 0% 59% / 1% 3rd 82% / 0% 4th 26% / 8% and other 4th companies was very well for organizer but this was lowest, staff turnover, 1st 5%, 2nd 18%, and 8%, 13% and also 33% to gather companies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response attempts to discuss the table comparing the five small companies, but it fails to provide a coherent overview or appropriately select and report the main features. Instead of summarising key trends or making clear comparisons, the student lists fragmented pieces of data with numerous transcription and misinterpretation errors (e.g. confusing percentages and rankings). Much of the text reads like a random extraction of numbers rather than a structured summary, meaning the requirements of Academic Task 1 are only partially met. To reach a higher band, the writer must select significant highlights—such as staff numbers or turnover—and group them logically to present a clear, overarching summary of the data.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The organisation and progression of ideas are severely disrupted throughout the response. The text lacks logical paragraphing and a cohesive structure, opening with mechanical copying of the prompt and question instructions rather than an introduction. Cohesive devices are either misused or absent, as seen with inappropriate transitional phrases like 'On the other hand' and 'In additional'. Furthermore, referencing and listing data points (such as '1st 56 2nd 79, 3rd 72 and, 76 190') are highly confusing and fail to guide the reader through the information smoothly. Overall arrangement is difficult to follow, resulting in a low score for coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, frequently impeded by inaccurate word choices and spelling errors (e.g. 'survive' instead of 'survey', 'brackert' instead of 'bracket', 'good' instead of 'best'). The student attempts to use some task-specific terminology such as 'staff turnover' and 'income bracket', but these are embedded in ungrammatical and nonsensical strings of numbers and clauses. There is no evidence of less common lexical items being used with precision or awareness of collocation. Vocabulary is barely adequate to convey meaning in isolated phrases.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

Grammatical control is weak, with a very limited range of sentence structures attempted, most of which are faulty. Simple sentences are either incomplete or tangled, and complex structures are non-existent or completely obscured by errors (e.g. 'the first top good small companies to work for staff number... were excellent rather than others companies'). Punctuation is haphazard, with random commas separating numbers and clauses. Frequent grammatical errors cause considerable strain for the reader and obscure the intended meaning of the statistical data.

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