Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-22

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 6.0)

THE TABLE ILLUSTRATES THE INFORMATION OF A TINY COMPANY WHICH RECORDED AS TOP FIVE IN A SURVEY OF EMPLOYEE CONDUCTED BY NATIONAL NEWSPAPER TO FINDOUT WHICH COMPANIES ARE THE BEST TO WORK FOR.

OVERALL, THE FIVE COMPANIES DIFFER CONSIDERABLY IN TERM OF STAFF NUMBERS , AGE AND GENDER DISTRIBUTION, STAFF TURN OVER AND THE PROPORTIN OF EMPLOYEES IN HIOGH INCOME BRACKETS. COMPANYU 5 HAS THE HIGHEST WORKFORCE AND THE HIGHEST TURNOVER, WHILE THE COMPANY 3 HAS HIGHESTPROPORTION OF HIGH INCOME EMPLOYEES. IN CONTRAST, COMPANY 1 RECORDS THE LOWEST STAFF TURNOVER.

IN TERM OF STAFF NUMBER THE FIFTH COMPANY EMPLOYEE BY FAR THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE, WITH 190 EMPLOYEES, COMPARED WITH 56 AND 79 IN THE OTHER FOUR COMPANIES. THE GENDER DISTRIBUTION ALSO VARIED CONSIDERABLY, COMPANY 3 HAD THE HIGHEST PROIPORTION OF MALE EMPLOYEE AT 74%, WHILE FEMALES ACCOUNTED FOR JUST 26%, IN COMTRAST, COMPANY 4 HAD LARGE PROPORTION OF FEMMALE STAFF, AT 87%. REGARDING AGE COMPANY 5 HAD THE YOUNGEST NWORKFORCE, WITH 93% OF EMPLOYEES UINDER 35, FOLLOW BY COMPANY 3 AT 82% COMPANY 4 WAS NOTABLY DIFFERENT WITH ONLY 26% UNDER 35 AND 8% OVER 55.

THERE WERE ALSO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN STAFF TURNOVER AND INCOME LEVELS. COMPANY 5 RECORDED THE HIGHEST STAFF TURNOVER AT 33% WHICH WAS CONSIDERABELY HIGHER THAN THE FIGURES FOR THE OTHER COMPANY 1 HAD THE LOWEST TURNOVER AT ONLY 5 % BY FOLLOWED BY THE COMPANY 3 AT 8%IN TERMS OF HIGH INCOME COMPANY COMPANY 3 RANKED FIRSTWITH 74% WITH ITS STAFF BELONGINGTO THIS GROUP. COMPASNIES 2 AND 1 FOLLOWED AT 48% AND 34% RESPECTIVELY.WHILE THE FIGURE WAS M,UCH LOWER FOR COMPANY 4 AND COMAPNY FIVE AT JUST 5% NAD 2%.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student successfully identifies and reports the main features from the table regarding the five small companies. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, highlighting key contrasts such as workforce size and staff turnover. Data points are appropriately selected and cited to support comparisons, such as Company 5 having the largest workforce (190) and highest turnover (33%), and Company 3 having the highest proportion of high-income employees (74%). However, there is a minor misreading of the staff numbers for the other four companies where the student states 'compared with 56 and 79 in the other four companies', which inaccurately groups the remaining values. Despite this minor lapse, the response covers all parts of the task well and provides relevant comparisons throughout, aligning well with the Band 6.5 to 7.0 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is arranged logically with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs dedicated to different categories of data. Paragraphing is used appropriately to structure the information. Cohesive devices and referencing are used throughout, though some connections feel slightly mechanical or are impacted by punctuation and spelling errors (e.g., 'BY FOLLOWED BY THE COMPANY 3'). Logical progression is maintained as the writer moves from staff numbers and gender distribution to age, staff turnover, and income levels. Overall arrangement is coherent, earning a solid Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range suitable for the task, successfully employing terms such as 'distribution', 'proportion', 'workforce', and 'turnover'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors that detract from precision, including 'FINDOUT', 'HIOGH', 'COMPANYU', 'PROIPORTION', 'COMTRAST', 'FEMMALE', 'NWORKFORCE', 'UINDER', and 'CONSIDERABELY'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they prevent the lexical score from reaching the higher bands, making Band 6.0 an accurate reflection of the performance.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses and comparative forms such as 'which was considerabely higher than the figures for the other'. However, control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are frequent punctuation errors, missing commas, run-on sentences, and awkward phrasings like 'THE FIFTH COMPANY EMPLOYEE BY FAR THE LARGEST NUMBER' and 'COMPANY 3 RANKED FIRSTWITH 74% WITH ITS STAFF BELONGINGTO THIS GROUP'. These frequent errors place the response firmly in the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, where simple structures are handled reasonably well but complex structures introduce noticeable inaccuracies.

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