Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-09

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 4.5)

The table provides information about the five small companies in Britain that remained at the top in a survey of staff which is conducted by a national newspaper to figure out the most convinent companies to work.

overall, the fifth-ranked company has more number of employees as compared to other comapanies, whereas staff income accounted to the lowest figure. fourth-ranked company recorded highest figure in terms of female staff, while the third-ranked company has large number of male workers.

Fifth-ranked company has the 190 employes recorded the highest figure in terms of staff numbers, whereas third-ranked company has only 56 workers. First, second and third-ranked companies has 79, 72 and 76 employees respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response identifies a few relevant comparisons, including the fifth-ranked company’s larger workforce and the fourth-ranked company’s high proportion of female staff. However, the overview is incomplete and includes a factual error: the third-ranked company has 72 employees, not 56; 56 is the figure for the first-ranked company. The response also says the fifth-ranked company had the lowest staff income, but the table shows only that 2% were in the high-income bracket, the lowest share. Most other key features—such as turnover, age profile, and the contrasting income figures—are omitted, so the task is addressed only minimally. The response is 104 words, below the required 150; the nine words copied from the prompt are excluded from that count.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic paragraph structure: an introduction, an overview, and a paragraph with figures. The overview uses “whereas” to contrast features, and the final paragraph attempts to compare workforce sizes. However, the response is very short and does not develop a clear progression through the table’s main features. The final paragraph also contains a confusing sequence: “First, second and third-ranked companies has 79, 72 and 76 employees respectively,” which does not match the stated rankings or the table. Use separate, logically grouped comparisons—for example, workforce size and turnover in one paragraph, then age, gender, and income in another—and check that linking words and references make each comparison clear.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some task-relevant vocabulary, including “ranked,” “employees,” “staff numbers,” and “female staff,” and attempts comparison with “whereas.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “most convinent companies to work,” “more number of employees,” and “staff income accounted to the lowest figure.” There are also spelling errors in “convinent,” “comapanies,” and “employes,” which reduce precision. Choose standard table-reporting phrases such as “the best companies to work for,” “the largest workforce,” and “the smallest proportion of staff in the high-income bracket.” More precise vocabulary would help distinguish income levels from the percentage of employees in a category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and complex sentences, including a contrast with “whereas,” and the main meaning is generally understandable. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. For example, “which is conducted” shifts awkwardly from the past survey context, “the fifth-ranked company has the 190 employes recorded” has an unclear sentence structure, and “companies has” shows subject–verb disagreement. The phrase “First, second and third-ranked companies has 79, 72 and 76 employees respectively” also makes the comparison difficult to follow. Practise accurate plural agreement and clearer sentence patterns, such as “The first-, second- and third-ranked companies had 56, 79 and 72 employees, respectively.” Varying sentence structures is useful, but accuracy should come first.

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

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