Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-11-14

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 6.0)

The table illustrates the information about the underground railway systems in six different cities along with the date opened and kilometers of route, and how many passengers they carry yearly.

Overall,london has the oldest and longest railway system whereas los angeles has the newest railway system.Tokyo carries the highest proprtion of passengers per year while kyoto carries the lowest.

Looking at the opening dates London has the oldest system was established in 1863 making it the oldest among six cities.Paris and Tokyo followed up in 1900 and 1981.Tokyos system formed in 1927 while,Washington DC introduced his system in 1976. In contrast Los Angeles has the newest ystem bagan in railway system in 2001.

Regarding route length, london has the longest route of 394 Kilometer. Paris ranked in seconds with 1900 Kilometers .Tokyo at 155 Washington DC has 126 Kilometer of length.

In comparison Kyoto and Lon Angeles has the shortest network of 11 and 28 Kilometers.

In terms of annual passenger numbers, tokyo leads with 1927 million passengers per year. paris is the second ranked with 1191 million passengers, whereas london carries the 775 million passengers. By contrast kyoto and los angeles carries the least 45 and 50 million passengers per year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main overall patterns: London is the oldest and has the longest route, Los Angeles is the newest, and Tokyo has the highest passenger total while Kyoto has the lowest. You also report figures for all six cities, so the key categories are covered. However, some comparisons are unclear or inaccurate: Paris opened in 1900, but the response says it and Tokyo “followed up in 1900 and 1981,” which misstates Tokyo’s opening date; the correct date is 1927. The route figure for Paris is also given as 1,900 rather than 199 kilometres. The overview’s “highest proportion” is imprecise because the table gives passenger totals, not proportions. Check figures carefully and make the overview and comparisons precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate sections on opening dates, route length and passenger numbers. This makes the information generally easy to follow, and phrases such as “In contrast” and “In terms of” help signal comparisons. However, progression is weakened by some awkward sequencing and unclear links. The opening-date paragraph repeats that London is the oldest and gives Tokyo’s date in two different places, while “Paris and Tokyo followed up in 1900 and 1981” disrupts the chronology and creates confusion. The route paragraph also lists figures in a compressed way without consistently connecting each city to its value. Group cities by meaningful similarities and use linking phrases accurately to make comparisons smoother.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “underground railway systems,” “route,” “annual passenger numbers,” “oldest,” and “newest.” These choices communicate the main subject and comparisons. However, several word-choice, collocation and spelling problems reduce precision: “highest proprtion” should be “highest number,” “ranked in seconds” should be “ranked second,” and “followed up” is not natural for describing opening dates. There are also spelling errors such as “Lon Angeles,” “ystem,” and “bagan,” alongside inconsistent capitalisation of city names. Aim for accurate, conventional expressions such as “opened,” “had a route length of,” and “carried X million passengers annually,” and proofread spellings and proper nouns.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences with contrast, as in “Paris is the second ranked with 1191 million passengers, whereas London carries the 775 million passengers.” The overall meaning is usually recoverable, but some sentence structures and grammatical forms are inaccurate. For example, “London has the oldest system was established in 1863” combines two clauses without a suitable connector; write “London’s system, established in 1863, is the oldest.” In “Kyoto and Los Angeles has,” the plural subject requires “have,” and “carries the 775 million passengers” uses an unnecessary article. Punctuation and spacing are also inconsistent, particularly around commas and sentence openings. Practise building clear complex sentences and check agreement, articles and clause boundaries.

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