Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-08-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below shows the percentage of households in owned and rented accommodation in England and Wales between 1918 and 2011.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 4.5)

The table depicts the data of underground railway system in six major cities with the year, distance of route, and passengers per year in millions.

Overall, London city had the oldest railway system among all cities, while Los Angeles railway system was the newest. Tokyo accounted for the highest number of passenger but it had average kilometer of route.

To begin with, railway system started in London in 1863 which was the oldest and kilometer of route was around 394, it was the longest route and 775 million passenger. In addition, Paris introduced their railway system in 1900, it consisted of 199 kilometers and 1191 total passengers. Railway system opened in Tokyo in 1927, 155 kilometer train travel and around 1928 passenger experienced this railway system.

Moreover, Washington DC introduced railway in 1976 and it had moderate size route (126) and 144 passenger approximately traveled. Kyoto and Los Angeles railway newly opened in 1981 and 2001 respectively, kilometers and passenger accounted for minimal figure among all the cities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 2.0

The response fails to address the task prompt entirely. The prompt asks for a summary of a chart regarding household accommodation in England and Wales (1918–2011), but the student has written a report about an underground railway system in six cities. This is a complete mismatch between the task instructions and the content provided. While the student does select and report features of the data they chose to write about, the failure to address the actual topic provided in the prompt results in a very low score for Task Achievement, as the response is essentially off-topic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. There is some attempt at using cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'In addition', and 'Moreover'. However, the progression of ideas is somewhat mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear. Despite the content being irrelevant to the prompt, the structure itself follows the standard format for an IELTS Academic Task 1 report, which prevents a lower score in this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. The student uses basic terms like 'oldest', 'newest', 'highest number', and 'minimal figure'. There are some issues with collocation and word choice, such as 'Tokyo accounted for the highest number of passenger' (should be plural 'passengers') and 'average kilometer of route'. The range is limited and does not demonstrate the ability to use less common lexical items with flexibility or precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with pluralisation ('1928 passenger', '144 passenger') and article usage ('London city', 'Tokyo accounted for the highest number'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are persistent throughout the text. The control over complex structures is weak, and the accuracy is inconsistent, which is characteristic of the Band 5 level.

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

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