Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-11-09

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 4.5)

The table showe the information about the underground railway systems in six cities named, london,pairs,tokyo,washingtonDC, kyoto, los angeles.

Overall, it will be clearly seen, tokyo passengers in 1927 is the highest in other five cities.kyoto passengers per year lowest just around 50.

To begin with, date opened in 1981, kilometers of route just 11 and passenger per year in millions less all the other cities only 45 million. los angeles in 2001 kilometers of route double is kyoto its 28 and passengers per year just five percent increase.UK in 1863, underground railway kilometers of route 394 and passengers per year 775.

Futhermore, pairs in 1900, kilometers of route 199 , passengers one years around 1191 pairs citiy is the secounf one highest in the chart. in the end, last citiy named tokyo in 1927 , kilometers of route 155, and passengers per year in million, 1927 this city passengers hight in campare with other cities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify the table’s subject and report several relevant figures, including London’s 394 km route and Tokyo’s 1,927 million annual passengers. You also attempt an overview by noting Tokyo’s high passenger total and Kyoto’s low figure. However, the overview is not fully accurate: Kyoto has the fewest passengers, at 45 million, while Los Angeles has 50 million, and Tokyo’s figure is not clearly compared with the other cities. Washington DC is omitted, and the response does not consistently select the main comparisons across all six systems. The response is also 146 words, below the required 150; the nine words copied from the task prompt were not counted. To strengthen the report, cover every city and accurately compare the oldest/largest system with the newest/smallest ones.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the report: an opening, an overview beginning “Overall,” and body information introduced by “To begin with” and “Furthermore.” These markers give the reader some sense of sequence. However, the progression is uneven: Kyoto, Los Angeles and London are grouped together without a clear comparison, then Paris and Tokyo are discussed, while Washington DC is left out. Several sentences are fragments or run together, such as “date opened in 1981, kilometers of route just 11,” and punctuation and spacing make boundaries difficult to follow. Use separate paragraphs for the overview and grouped comparisons, and connect figures through clear comparisons rather than a list-like sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You use some task-relevant terms, including “underground railway,” “kilometers of route” and “passengers per year,” so the topic is generally recognisable. However, vocabulary is basic and repetitive, and frequent spelling and word-choice problems strain the reader: “showe,” “pairs,” “secounf,” “citiy” and “hight” obscure otherwise useful information. Some expressions are also unnatural, such as “passengers in 1927” when referring to a total, and “five percent increase” for the difference between Kyoto and Los Angeles. Aim for accurate data-reporting language and check spelling carefully. Useful alternatives include “annual passenger numbers,” “the shortest route,” and “approximately twice as long.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response attempts simple statements and some longer constructions, but grammatical control is weak and errors frequently make relationships between figures unclear. For example, “The table showe the information” has incorrect subject–verb agreement, while “tokyo passengers in 1927 is the highest” uses an unclear noun phrase and verb form. The sentence “los angeles in 2001 kilometers of route double is kyoto its 28” lacks a clear grammatical structure, and several clauses are joined without appropriate punctuation. Capitalisation and sentence boundaries are also inconsistent. Practise forming complete comparative sentences, such as “Los Angeles has a route twice as long as Kyoto’s,” and check agreement, articles, tense and punctuation in each sentence.

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

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