Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-18

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 illustrates the proportion of the data given by national newspaper of Britain, of five small companies comparing the metrices of staff number, staff turnover and staff with high income.

The company 1st have lower number of employees as compared to the company 5th, while the high income employees survey is vice versa.

The company 4th has highest ratio female working in their firm while the least number of female employees recorded in 2nd company. company 5th have highest number of staff under 35 while it decreases in other company.

staff turnover rate is low in company 1 while it increases significantly in other companies. company 2nd has highest number of staff with high income, while its trend decrease in other company as well.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 150 words, coming in at only 125 words, which directly limits the extent to which the task is addressed. While the student attempts to report some main features from the table, such as staff numbers, turnover, and high-income brackets, the selection of data is incomplete and contains several inaccuracies. For instance, the claim that company 2nd has the highest number of staff with high income contradicts the table, which shows that company 3rd actually has the highest proportion (74%). Furthermore, comparisons are vague, referring to 'the company 1st' and 'company 5th' without clearly synthesising the wider data set. To reach higher bands, the writer must expand the response past the word count threshold, provide an accurate overview, and ground all reported comparisons precisely in the visual data.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is divided into short paragraphs, but the overall structure lacks a logical progression. There is no clear introduction or overview paragraph, and the body paragraphs feel disjointed, jumping erratically between metrics such as staff numbers, gender ratios, age breakdowns, and turnover rates without a coherent plan. Cohesive devices are minimal and mechanical, relying heavily on simple contrast words like 'while' and 'as compared to'. Pronoun referencing is also occasionally confusing, such as 'its trend decrease in other company', making it difficult for the reader to track which company or metric is being referred to. Paragraphing needs to be organised systematically, grouping related data together into an introduction, an overview, and distinct body paragraphs.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, frequently reusing terms like 'company', 'staff', and 'number'. There are notable lexical inaccuracies and awkward phrasing, such as 'proportion of the data given by national newspaper', 'comparing the metrices of staff number', and 'highest ratio female working'. The word 'trend' is also misused when referring to static comparative data points across different companies ('its trend decrease'). While the student attempts to introduce some topic-specific vocabulary like 'turnover' and 'high income', the range remains limited and inadequate for a fully developed academic report. Spelling and word choice errors occur frequently enough to cause occasional strain for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text displays a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying mostly on simple or faulty complex sentences. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the response, including missing articles ('The company 1st have lower number', 'least number of female employees recorded in 2nd company'), subject-verb agreement issues ('The company 1st have', 'company 5th have', 'other company'), and preposition errors. Pluralisation is also handled incorrectly in places ('metrices', 'other company' instead of 'other companies'). Because error-free sentences are rare and structural variety is minimal, the grammar falls squarely into the Band 5 descriptor range.

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