Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-11-10

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 below illustrate, informations underground railway system in 6 different cities london , paris , Tokyo, Washington , Kyoto and Los Angeles.

overall, the first railway that opened is kn london and the last one is the Los Angeles one.

and the one who has the biggest number of passengers is the Tokyo railway,while the one who has the lowest is the Kyoto one .

and about the one who had the most kilometers London railway and the less is the Kyoto one.

Looking at the details

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify several relevant headline comparisons: London’s system opened earliest and has the longest route, Tokyo carries the most passengers, and Kyoto has the shortest route and lowest passenger figure. However, the response addresses the table only minimally. It omits most of the figures and comparisons, including the opening dates of the other cities, and gives no detailed account of route lengths or passenger numbers. The unfinished phrase “Looking at the details” does not develop the report. The response is also below the required 150 words, so there is not enough information to summarise the main features adequately. To improve, include an overview and compare the data using accurate figures across all six cities.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an opening sentence is followed by an overview of the earliest and latest systems and the highest and lowest figures. However, the ideas are presented as a series of loosely connected statements, with repeated sentence openings such as “and the one” and “and about the one.” The final phrase, “Looking at the details,” is incomplete and leaves the report without a clear ending or progression into supporting information. Use separate paragraphs for the introduction, overview and key comparisons, and connect related figures in complete sentences. This would make the organisation clearer and reduce the reliance on repetitive linking.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses a small set of relevant terms, including “railway,” “passengers,” “kilometers,” and “opened,” so the main topic is generally recognisable. However, the vocabulary is limited and repetitive, particularly in the repeated use of “the one,” and some expressions are not natural for describing data, such as “the biggest number of passengers” and “the less.” There are also spelling and word-form problems, including “informations” and “kn London,” which make parts of the text harder to read. Build a more precise range for comparisons, such as “highest annual passenger figure,” “shortest route,” and “most extensive network,” and check spelling and countable/uncountable forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response relies almost entirely on simple sentence patterns, with little evidence of a wider range of structures. Several sentences have problems with agreement and sentence construction: “The table below illustrate” uses a singular subject with the wrong verb form, while “overall, the first railway that opened is kn London” has an unclear structure and tense. The repeated sentence fragments beginning with “and the one” are not well controlled, and “Looking at the details” is left incomplete. Capitalisation and punctuation are also inconsistent, including the lowercase “overall” and the run-on spacing around commas. Practise writing complete sentences with accurate subject–verb agreement and use past tense consistently for opening dates.

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