Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The table illustrates the in formation about the five small organization in Britain that came top according to a survey that staff conducted by a national newspaper to find out which companies are the best to work for.

Overall, Five companies are demonstrated in the table with position including staff number, male and female ratio, under 30s and over 55s, staff turnover, and staff in high income bracket. The third company were highest proportion of male female ratio and lowest staff turnover while the fifth company were highest staff numbers and lowest income bracket in survey.

To begin with, First ranked company had 56 staff numbers with 30:70 male female ratio along with 77% of under 35s and no employees over 55s, staff turnover had 5% with 34% high income bracket. Whereas, second ranked company had 79 staff numbers with 47:53 male female ratio with under 35s had 59% and over 55s were1% with 18% staff turnover along with 48% high income bracket. Similarly, Third company had 72 staff numbers with highest 74:26 male female ratio and under 35s had 82% with no over 55s along with 8% staff turnover and highest proportion of high income bracket that were 74%.

Moreover, company four had 76 staff numbers with lowest proportion 13:87 male female ratio and under 35 had 26% over 55s had 8% staff turnover were 13% and 5% of high income bracket. Finally, company five 190 staff numbers that are highest numbers from all organizations with 51:49 male female ratio under 35s employees were 93% with no 55s employees 33% staff turnover and 2% of high income bracket that are lowest from all companies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by providing a summary of the data and making relevant comparisons across the five companies. However, some aspects are more fully developed than others. The overview captures the main features of the table, such as staff numbers and income brackets, but it contains minor inaccuracies in reading the data, such as misidentifying the third company as having the highest proportion of male-to-female ratio when the fourth company actually had a higher female percentage. The selection of data is generally appropriate, highlighting key details like staff turnover and age distributions, but certain ideas remain slightly under-developed, preventing a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, overview paragraph, and body paragraphs that methodically go through the data. Information is logically sequenced, beginning with general trends and moving into specific company details. However, cohesion can sometimes feel mechanical or repetitive, particularly in the transitions between sentences and data points, such as the heavy reliance on phrases like 'along with' and 'with'. Referencing is mostly clear, and paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the response, though smoother logical connectors would elevate the flow of the writing.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common terms and data-related terminology such as 'proportion', 'turnover', and 'bracket'. However, there are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and word formation, such as 'the in formation' and 'small organization'. There are also several awkward phrasings and unnatural collocations when describing the data. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they reflect a basic control of vocabulary that caps the score at this level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting comparative structures and relative clauses. There are, however, frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly regarding missing articles ('First ranked company', 'third company were highest'), subject-verb agreement ('the fifth company were highest', 'staff turnover had 5%'), and preposition usage. While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, they occur regularly throughout the text, indicating a restricted range of error-free sentences and limiting grammatical control.

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