Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-11-06

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The take below gives information about the underground railway systems in six cities.

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

Underground Railway Systems

City	Date opened	Kilometers of route	Passengers per year (in millions)
London	1863	394	775
Paris	1900	199	1191
Tokyo	1927	155	1927
Washington DC	1976	126	144
Kyoto	1981	11	45
Los Angeles	2001	28	50

Student answer (Band 5.0)

Following table gives the information about the underground railway systems in six cities.

The highest route was of london city and and passenger travel per year was about 775 millions per year in 1863.The largest passengers travelled around 1927 millions per year in 1927 in tokyo and the route was 155.The least number of passengers travelled was 45 millions per year in kyoto in 1981 and the route was 11 km.In Los angeles,the passengers travelled was 50 millions per year and the route is 28.In 1976,Washington DC,the passenger travelled about 144 millions per year, and the route was 126. In 1900,Paris the passengers travelled was about 1191 millions per year and the rout was 199 km.

Among all the cities,tokyo is largest passenger travelled city and the least city is kyoto in which passengers has travelled around 45 millions.In comparison to london and paris the difference is between route in london kilometer of route is longer than comparing to paris.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You include figures for all six cities and identify useful extremes: London has the longest route, while Tokyo has the highest annual passenger total and Kyoto the lowest. However, the overview is incomplete and some comparisons are unclear. The response does not clearly summarise the broad pattern that the older systems generally have longer routes, while passenger numbers do not follow route length; for example, Tokyo carries the most passengers despite having a shorter route than London or Paris. Some details are also attached confusingly to opening dates, as in “775 millions per year in 1863.” Make the main comparisons explicit and report each city’s figures without implying that annual passenger totals occurred in the opening year.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response has a basic sequence: it introduces the table, reports figures for the cities, and ends with a comparison. This gives the reader some organisation, but the progression is limited because most information is presented as a long run of similar sentences, with no clear overview paragraph followed by grouped details. Linking is also repetitive, particularly the repeated use of “and” and “In.” The final comparison between London and Paris is difficult to follow because “the difference is between route” does not state the comparison clearly. Group the cities by meaningful features, such as route length or passenger numbers, and use clear transitions to show how each comparison relates to the overview.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “route,” “passengers,” and “per year,” so the reader can recognise the subject and most figures. However, the range is limited and several repeated or inaccurate expressions make the report less precise. “Passengers travelled” is used repeatedly where “annual passenger numbers” or “carried passengers” would be more natural, and “the highest route” is unclear for describing route length. There are also spelling and form issues, such as “rout” and inconsistent capitalisation of city names. Aim for accurate data-reporting collocations and vary them selectively rather than repeating the same phrase.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Most sentences are simple statements, and you attempt some longer structures, such as “In comparison to London and Paris…,” but the range remains limited and longer sentences are often difficult to control. Errors in sentence structure and agreement appear in phrases such as “the passengers travelled was 50 millions” and “passengers has travelled.” The opening sentence also lacks an article (“Following table”), while punctuation and spacing are inconsistent. These problems sometimes make relationships between figures and dates unclear. Practise building accurate comparative sentences, for example, “London’s route is almost twice as long as Paris’s,” and check subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.