Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-01

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 4.5)

The tabel chart gives the information about the five best small companies to work for a national newspaper to find out which companies are the best to work. Firstly, there are different positions, such as staff members, male:female ration, under 35s/over 35s, staff turnover, staff in high income breakfast. The highest value of staff members is in 5th which is 190. Secondly, male and female ratio is 47-53. Thirdly, staff members in the 5th position is 33 percent which is higher, and the lower value is 5 percent. Furthermore, the lowest value is staff in high income breakfast which is 2% only. Moreover, the position of staff member in 2th position is lower value which is 5 percent only. Overall the tabel chart is very informative that give the information about different companies that define the highest position and lowest position that is beneficial for all companies. It is very useful tabel.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response4.0
Coherence and Cohesion4.0
Lexical Resource4.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.5
Overall4.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response addresses the task only minimally, as the information from the table is reported with significant confusion and inaccuracies. While the writer attempts to mention data such as the staff numbers and positions, key data points are misread or misunderstood, such as confusing staff turnover and percentages with categories like staff in high income breakfast. The overview provided in the conclusion is very general and does not accurately summarise the main trends or significant features of the data presented in the visual. To improve, the response needs to select and accurately report clear trends and key comparisons from the table rather than listing isolated and misinterpreted data points.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

Information and ideas are not arranged in a coherent progression. The text is presented as a single block paragraph with a few introductory words like 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Furthermore', but these mechanical devices fail to create a logical flow or clear structure. The relationship between sentences is often unclear, jumping randomly between different metrics from the table without a clear grouping of ideas. Additionally, referencing is confusing, and there is no clear overall progression from an introduction to a body and a well-structured conclusion. To improve, the writer needs to group related data logically and use paragraphing effectively to structure the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, frequently relying on simple words and phrases such as 'highest value', 'lower value', and 'good'. There are also notable lexical errors and inappropriate word choices, such as writing 'tabel chart', 'ration' instead of ratio, and repeatedly confusing income brackets with 'breakfast'. These errors and the limited range strain the reader's understanding at times. To reach a higher band, the writer must expand their lexical repertoire to include more precise vocabulary suited for describing statistical data, such as proportions, percentages, and comparative adjectives, while ensuring correct spelling and word form.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The grammatical range is very limited, consisting mostly of simple sentence structures with frequent errors. There are notable issues with article usage, pluralisation, and prepositions within grammatical patterns, such as 'The tabel chart gives the information' and 'staff members in the 5th position is 33 percent'. Verb forms and subject-verb agreement are also frequently inaccurate. These frequent errors disrupt the flow of the text and can cause difficulty for the reader. To improve, the writer should practice constructing varied sentence structures, ensuring correct agreement between subjects and verbs, and paying closer attention to basic grammatical accuracy.

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