Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-14

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 five companies differ considerably in size and employee characteristics. the company ranked third has the highest proportion of high income employees, whereas the fifth ranked company has the largest workforce and the highest staff turn over . meanwhile, the first ranked company records the lowest turnover rate; regarding staff numbers, the fifth company employes 190 people, considerably more than the other four companies , whose workforces range from 56 employes . in terms of gender distribution woman make up the majority of employes in the first and fourth companies , accounting for 70% to 87% respectively , by cotrast men represents 74% of the workforce in the third companies

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify several relevant features, including the third-ranked company’s high-income share, the fifth company’s largest workforce and turnover, and the first company’s lowest turnover. The gender comparisons are also broadly grounded in the table. However, the report is incomplete: it gives little coverage of the age figures or income differences across the other companies, and the workforce comparison is left unfinished (“range from 56 employes”). Some comparisons therefore remain under-developed. The response also falls 40 words short of the required minimum, limiting the detail available to summarise the table. To strengthen the report, include a clear overview and develop a few key comparisons with accurate figures, such as the third company’s 74% high-income share versus 2% for the fifth.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic sequence: it opens with a general comparison, then moves to workforce size and gender. Linking expressions such as “whereas,” “meanwhile,” and “regarding” help signal relationships between points. However, the progression is not fully clear because the workforce sentence is incomplete, and the report ends abruptly after the gender comparison. The ideas are presented as one continuous block rather than being grouped into a clear overview and supporting details. Some transitions also feel mechanical, and the semicolon before “regarding staff numbers” does not create a smooth connection. Organise the response into a short overview followed by logically grouped comparisons, and use linking phrases only where they clarify the relationship between data.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “proportion,” “workforce,” “gender distribution,” and “turnover rate.” These choices help communicate comparisons, and phrases such as “highest proportion” are appropriate for describing the table. There are, however, some inaccurate or awkward choices and spelling errors: “staff turn over” should be written as “staff turnover,” “employes” is misspelled, and “by cotrast” is also misspelled. “Woman make up” is not the natural plural form in this context. Aim for accurate spelling and collocations, and vary repeated references to “company” with terms such as “firm” or “employer.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt some complex sentence forms, for example, “the company ranked third has the highest proportion … whereas the fifth ranked company…” This shows an effort to compare information within a sentence. However, control is inconsistent: “the fifth company employes 190 people” has a subject–verb form error, and “men represents 74%” has an agreement error. The phrase “woman make up” also needs a plural subject, while the workforce sentence lacks a complete comparison after “range from 56.” Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including the lowercase opening and the space before a full stop. Use complete sentences, check subject–verb agreement, and proofread sentence boundaries and punctuation.

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