Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-11-11

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 5.5)

The table compares the underground railway systems' route per kilometers and passengers per year in millions of six cities.

Overall, underground railyway system of London was more extented while kyoto city had the least path for railyway. In terms of passengers, Tokyo had the most number of passengers, followed by Paris and the least passengers were in Kyoto in millions.

London's underground railway systems were established in 1863, had the longest track fro railways which was 394 km but its passengers per year were only 775 millions. Whereas, tokyo installed railway systems in 1927 and its route was 155 km but it had the highest number of passengers 1927 millions per year, followed by Paris which was early established in 1900 and underground railway track was 199 km with 1191 millions passengers.

On the other hand, Kyoto had railway systems developed in late 90's extended its route to just 11 km least as compared to six cities and the lowest number of passengers 45 millions per year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main contrasts: London has the longest route, Tokyo carries the most passengers, and Kyoto has the shortest route and lowest passenger figure. The overview is relevant, and the comparisons between London, Tokyo and Paris support it. However, coverage is incomplete: Washington DC and Los Angeles are omitted, and the description of Kyoto’s opening date is inaccurate (“late 90’s” rather than 1981). Some comparisons are also under-developed, such as the relatively high passenger totals in Paris and Tokyo compared with their route lengths. To strengthen the response, report all six cities accurately and select a few clear comparisons across both route length and annual passenger numbers.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall shape, moving from an introduction and overview to comparisons of the larger systems and then the smaller one. Linking phrases such as “Overall,” “Whereas” and “On the other hand” help signal relationships between ideas. However, the final paragraph covers only Kyoto, so the progression stops before the remaining cities are addressed. Some links are also mechanical or awkward: “Whereas” begins a sentence that is not fully integrated with the previous one, and “followed by Paris” is attached to a long sentence containing several facts. Grouping the cities by route size or passenger use, and using shorter comparison sentences, would make the organisation more complete and cohesion clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing the table, including “established,” “route,” “longest track” and “highest number of passengers.” This gives you enough range to communicate the main comparisons. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “route per kilometers,” “more extented,” “least path for railyway” and “installed railway systems.” Spelling errors in “railyway” and “extented,” along with inconsistent capitalisation of city names, also reduce precision. Aim for standard data-description phrases and check spelling carefully; for example, describe a system as having the “longest route” and say that it “opened” in a particular year.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including comparisons with “while,” “but” and “whereas.” The main information is generally understandable, but some sentence structures are faulty or difficult to follow. For example, “London's underground railway systems were established in 1863, had the longest track” joins two predicates without a suitable structure, while “Tokyo installed railway systems” has an unclear subject-action relationship. There are also issues with articles, agreement and number, as in “the least passengers were in Kyoto” and “1191 millions passengers.” Use complete clauses with consistent tense, and check singular/plural forms and sentence boundaries when combining comparisons.

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.