Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-19

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 5.0)

The table depicts data about five small organization in Britain that were the best place to work for according to a survey of staff executed by a national newspaper in order to establish companies that are best to work for.

Overall, the five companies have reletively low staff counts, high young employees, high salary structure and low rates of employee leaving the company.

All the company have high youth to old employee ratio while the 4th company have the least young and most old employees (26%/8%). Also, all the companies have very low

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify the table’s subject and offer an overview, noting the generally young workforce and highlighting the fourth-ranked company’s age profile. However, the response addresses the task only minimally: it ends before completing the comparison (“Also, all the companies have very low”) and gives almost no account of the other key measures. The claim of a “high salary structure” is not supported across the table: the share in the high-income bracket ranges from 2% to 74%, while turnover ranges from 5% to 33%, so it is not uniformly low. The response is also 57 words below the required minimum. To develop the summary, report the main contrasts across staff numbers, gender, turnover and income, using accurate figures and a clear overview.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an opening sentence introduces the table, a separate paragraph gives an overview, and the final paragraph begins a specific comparison about age. This provides some paragraph-level structure. However, the progression is not sustained because the response stops mid-sentence at “Also, all the companies have very low,” leaving the final point incomplete and the information unbalanced. The overview also lists broad claims without showing how they connect to the detailed comparison. Use a complete overview followed by logically grouped comparisons—for example, age and gender, then turnover and income—and ensure each paragraph develops a finished point. Clear links such as “By contrast” or “Regarding staff turnover” would help guide the reader.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “staff counts,” “employee leaving the company,” and “high income bracket,” and the meaning is generally recoverable. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “depicts data” and “establish companies.” However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural: “organization” is singular where the table concerns five companies, “survey … executed” is an awkward collocation, and “high salary structure” does not precisely describe the percentage of staff in a high-income bracket. “Reletively” is misspelled, and “youth to old employee ratio” is unclear. Aim for precise table language such as “staff numbers,” “staff turnover,” and “the proportion of employees aged under 35.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response includes some controlled simple structures, such as “The table depicts data about five small organization in Britain,” and a more complex clause beginning “according to a survey of staff.” However, grammatical errors recur and sometimes make the phrasing difficult to follow. For example, “five small organization” needs a plural noun, and “All the company have” has a subject–verb agreement and plural-form problem. The sentence “while the 4th company have the least young and most old employees” also has agreement errors and an awkward comparative construction. The final sentence is incomplete, so it cannot communicate a complete grammatical idea. Practise accurate plural and agreement forms, and check each sentence for a complete main clause before moving on to more varied structures.

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