Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-04

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 6.0)

The table illustrates the 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.

Overall, the most noticeable feature is that the 5th company had the highest number of staff; however it was recorded to have the lowest staff in high income bracket. This is followed by 2nd, 4th and 3rd companies with almost similar numbers of staff. Meanwhile, the lowest number of staff was the 1st company.

Looking first at the 5th company with the most number of staff number at 190, and the staff was mostly female with 93% of under 35s. Although it had the highest number of staff, the high income bracket was only 2% of the staff. The 2nd company and 4th company had almost the same numbers of staff at 79 and 76 respectively. Compared to the 4th company, 2nd company had mostly male staff at 47:53 ratio, while 4th company had 13:87. The rate of staff in high income bracket with 2nd company had 48%, the second to the highest figure, whereas 4th company had only 5%.

Turning to the remaining figures, 3rd company with 72 staff number had the highest percentage of staff in high income bracket at 74%. Most of the employees were male at 74:26 ratio and 82% were under 35s. By contrast, 1st company had the least number of staff accounted for 56. The population of employees were mostly female at 30:70 ratio with 77% under 35s.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task and presents an overview with main features, noting that the fifth company had the highest staff number but the lowest percentage in the high income bracket. However, some parts are handled more fully than others, and certain details are under-developed or inaccurately framed. For instance, the writer states that the fifth company had '93% of under 35s', whereas the table indicates that 93% was the proportion of under-35s in that company, not that 93% of the staff fell into that category in that exact phrasing. Furthermore, data selection tends to focus heavily on isolated figures rather than drawing comprehensive, synthesized comparisons across all categories. Note that 32 words copied from the prompt were not counted. To reach a higher band, the overview should capture broader trends more distinctly, and the data reporting needs greater precision and deeper extension of key comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement and logical progression, easily meeting lower band requirements and showing some characteristics of the next level. Information is grouped logically by company across paragraphs, and the introduction of an overview paragraph successfully outlines the most striking features. Cohesive devices are used adequately to guide the reader through the data, such as 'Turning to the remaining figures' and 'By contrast'. However, referencing and cohesion can occasionally feel slightly mechanical or repetitive in structure. For example, sentences within body paragraphs sometimes rely on a repetitive listing style when introducing data points. To achieve a higher band, the flow between sentences could be made smoother and more sophisticated, ensuring that relationships between data points are integrated seamlessly without over-relying on formulaic transitional phrases.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to successfully communicate information about staff numbers, ratios, and percentages. There is an attempt to use less common vocabulary and phraseology, such as 'highest percentage', 'ratio', and 'proportion of employees'. However, some word choice and collocation inaccuracies occur, such as writing 'the most number of staff number' instead of 'the highest staff number', and 'the staff was mostly female with 93% of under 35s'. Spelling and word-choice errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the writing from achieving a higher rating. To move up to a higher band, the writer should incorporate a wider range of precise lexical items and demonstrate better control over collocation and word formation when describing statistical data.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures like relative clauses and comparative constructions successfully. There are some grammar errors present, though they rarely impede communication. Examples include awkward phrasing and article omission, such as 'the lowest number of staff was the 1st company' (where 'company' or a possessive is missing) and '3rd company with 72 staff number had the highest percentage'. Control over complex structures is evident, but occasional errors persist in prepositions, article use, and subject-verb agreement within complex clauses. To reach the next band, the writer should aim for a higher proportion of error-free sentences and refine the control over grammatical patterns when dealing with complex statistical comparisons.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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