Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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

Student answer (Band 5.0)

The table provided shows data of five smal Britain companies that topped survey made by a Britain Newspaper in terms of working staff, gender ratio, age groups, staff turnover and proportion of employees in high bracket income to find best place for work.

Overall, the 5th company had the most number of staff where the 1st company came at last in the category. In contrast, the 5th company had the least number of staff with high income whereas the 3rd company topped the category.

Looking at the details, 5th company had the largest work force of 190, followed by the 2nd and 4th with 79 and 76, respectively. The first company had the least number of workers of 56. Womens consideraby outnumbered the mens in 1st, 2nd and 4th with female proportions of 70%, 53% and 87% respectively. However, men formed majority in the third company, at 74%.

Taking age factors in consideration, a companies prefer employees under age of 35. Finally staff turnover ranged from just 5% in the 1st company to 33% in the 5th company.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The candidate attempts to cover the main features of the table, successfully identifying the extremes in staff numbers and income brackets. For example, the student notes that the 5th company had the largest workforce of 190 while the 1st company had the least. However, there are notable comprehension errors in the overview and body paragraphs; the student incorrectly claims in the overview that 'the 5th company had the most number of staff where the 1st company came at last in the category. In contrast, the 5th company had the least number of staff with high income', which contradicts the data showing the 5th company actually had the fewest high-income staff (2%). Furthermore, the sentence 'a companies prefer employees under age of 35' is incomplete and inaccurate regarding the data trends. Because of these inaccuracies and underdeveloped comparisons, the task achievement is limited.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is divided into an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a brief overview section placed immediately after the introduction, which slightly disrupts the typical Academic Task 1 structure. Logical progression is attempted through phrases like 'Overall,' 'Looking at the details,' and 'Finally,' but referencing is sometimes unclear, such as 'a companies prefer employees under age of 35' standing alone without clear linkage or accurate interpretation. Cohesive devices are used, but their mechanical nature and the presence of logical gaps prevent a higher band score. Paragraphing is present, though the grouping of ideas could be more cohesive.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for basic reporting, featuring terms like 'work force,' 'gender ratio,' and 'staff turnover.' However, there are frequent lexical errors, spelling mistakes, and awkward collocations. Examples include 'smal' instead of small, 'Britain companies' instead of British companies, 'survey made by a Britain Newspaper' instead of conducted by a national newspaper, 'high bracket income' instead of high income bracket, 'Womens consideraby outnumbered the mens' containing pluralization errors ('Womens', 'mens'), and 'high income' written as 'high income' inconsistently. These errors indicate a limited lexical range and control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The candidate attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as introductory prepositional phrases ('Looking at the details, 5th company had...') and relative clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent missing articles ('5th company', 'first company'), incorrect pluralisation ('Womens', 'mens'), spelling errors, and a fragmented, ungrammatical concluding sentence ('Taking age factors in consideration, a companies prefer employees under age of 35'). While basic meaning is generally communicated, the frequency of grammatical errors causes noticeable difficulty and prevents the response from reaching Band 6.

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