Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)
The given table shows the information about the underground railway systems in six cities. Railway system is very important for travelling in one place to another.
Railway system was opened in 1863 in London and its travelling route was 394 km and passengers that travel in it were 775 millions per year.The second city where railway system was established in 1900 was Paris.Its route was 199 km and and passengers that travel in it were 1191 millions in every year.
The third one city was Tokyo that established railway system in 1927 and its route was 155 km and passenger that travel in it were 1927 millions per year.
The fourth one was Washington Dc that made railway system in 1976 and its route was 126 km and that passenger that travel in it were 144 million per year.The number 5 city were Kyoto there railway system established in 1981 and its route was 11 km and passenger that travel in it were 45 million per year.
The six number city were Los Angles there railway system established in 2001 and its route were 28 km and passenger that travel in it were 50 million per year.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5
You report the figures for all six cities, including opening dates, route lengths and annual passenger numbers, so the response is relevant to the table. However, it mainly lists each city in turn rather than selecting and highlighting the key features. There is no clear overview of the main contrasts—for example, that London has the longest route and is the oldest system, while Tokyo carries the most passengers, and Kyoto has the shortest route and lowest passenger total. Some figures are also presented without a useful comparison. To strengthen the response, begin with an overview of these extremes and group the cities by notable similarities or differences before giving selected details. The nine words copied from the task prompt were not counted in the reported total.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The information follows a generally understandable order, moving from London through the other cities, and the repeated references to each city help readers identify which figures belong together. However, the response has little overall progression beyond this sequence: each city is treated in a similar, repetitive sentence pattern, and there is no separate overview or grouping of related information. Connectors such as “The second city,” “The third one city” and “The fourth one” are mechanical and do not show meaningful comparisons. Paragraphing is also limited, with the whole report presented as one block. Organise the response into an overview and one or two detail paragraphs, grouping the largest or busiest systems separately from the smaller ones.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary is sufficient to identify the main categories in the table, including “route,” “passengers,” “per year” and “established.” However, the range is limited and several phrases are repeated, especially “railway system” and “passengers that travel in it.” Some word choices and forms are inaccurate or awkward, such as “the six number city,” “Angles” and “travelling route.” These do not prevent the reader from understanding the figures, but they make the report less precise and natural. Use concise data-reporting language and vary the terms appropriately—for example, refer to a system’s “route length” and its “annual passenger total.” Check city names and use standard forms such as “Los Angeles” and “passengers.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response communicates the basic information using simple clauses, but its sentence structures are very repetitive and attempts to combine several facts often produce errors. For example, “Railway system was opened in 1863 in London and its travelling route was 394 km and passengers that travel in it were 775 millions per year” contains a long chain of clauses with unclear grammatical relationships. There are also recurring problems with articles, agreement and tense, as in “The number 5 city were Kyoto” and “passenger that travel.” Punctuation is inconsistent, including missing spaces after full stops. Practise writing shorter, controlled comparisons and use accurate past-tense forms for opening dates alongside present-tense descriptions of the table’s figures.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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