Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-05

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 5.0)

the table demonstrate the information about the five companies in Britain that score highest staff satisfaction survey which was conducted by a national newspaper to understand which companies are the best to work for.

overall, the company is assessed on the five parameters which are number of the staff members, ratio of male and female in the company, employees under the age of 35 and 55 , turnover of the staff and lastly staff member in the high income bracket.

As we observed the data carefully all the five companies scored highest in the different parameters. the number of staff members is the highest in the 5th company which is 190 but on the other hand the staff in high income bracket is only 2% which is the lowest among all the five companies.

The 1st company have the lowest strength of staff member which is 56 shows the third best among the five companies and the company which score the highest in the high income bracket is the third company which is 74% with a total strength of 72 staff member in the company.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response partially addresses the task by selecting some main features and making a few comparisons, but overall the treatment of the data is limited and uneven. While you mention the survey and attempt to discuss staff numbers and high income brackets for the first, third, and fifth companies, the report lacks a fully developed overview and fails to cover all the key parameters systematically. For instance, your opening overview merely lists the parameters rather than outlining the broader trends or key findings visible in the data. Furthermore, some of your observations are slightly confusing or inadequately supported, such as the sentence attempting to link the staff strength of the first company to its survey position. To reach a higher level, you need to present a clearer, more comprehensive summary of the key features across all five companies, ensuring that comparisons are made more explicitly and accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text shows some organization with basic paragraphing, but there is no clear overall progression guiding the reader smoothly through the data. Cohesive devices are either missing, mechanical, or repetitive, which disrupts the logical flow between sentences and paragraphs. For example, starting your third paragraph with 'As we observed the data carefully all the five companies scored highest in the different parameters' feels somewhat disjointed and does not effectively connect the introduction to the body details. Additionally, referencing and transitional phrases between your discussions of different companies need to be managed more skillfully to ensure the relationships between the data points are clear. To improve, you should focus on structuring your body paragraphs around clear themes or categories of data, using a wider range of appropriate cohesive links to establish a logical narrative.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is limited but minimally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey basic information about the table. You attempt some task-related vocabulary such as 'survey', 'parameters', 'turnover', and 'bracket', but there are noticeable errors in word choice, form, and collocation that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. For instance, phrases like 'score highest staff satisfaction survey' lack necessary prepositions and articles, and 'lowest strength of staff member' uses 'strength' in a way that is unnatural in this context; 'staff count' or 'number of staff' would be more appropriate. To achieve a higher band, you need to expand your lexical range and use less common vocabulary with greater precision, ensuring that your word choices and collocations sound natural and accurate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing relies on a limited range of sentence structures, and your attempts at more complex sentences are frequently faulty. There are persistent errors in grammar, punctuation, and articles throughout the response that cause difficulty and require the reader to slow down. For example, subject-verb agreement and tense usage are inconsistent, as seen in 'the table demonstrate' instead of 'demonstrates', and 'The 1st company have' instead of 'has'. Additionally, missing articles such as 'in 5th company' and punctuation oversights like lowercase beginnings at the start of sentences detract from the quality of the writing. To improve, you need to demonstrate better control over basic grammatical forms, pluralisation, and verb agreements, while gradually incorporating a wider variety of error-free complex structures.

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