Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-07-29

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 6.5)

The table illustrates the different dates the underground railway systems were opened in six countries, the number of kilometers covered and the number of passengers that followed the route.

Overall, London was the first city to open an underground railway in 1863, with the longest route of 394km. Also, Tokyo being the third city to open a railway system when compared to the six countries, has the highest population of passengers for the year.

Majority of the cities (Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC and Kyoto) established their underground railway systems in the 19th century while Los Angeles being the least established theirs in the early 20s and London in the 18th century. Furthermore, in terms of the number of kilometers covered and the people that followed the route, Kyoto happens to be the least with 11km and 45 million passengers respectively.

Paris has the second highest kilometer and number of passengers. Los angeles being the only city opened in the 20th century has the second least kilometers and population of people that followed there that year.

In conclusion, it can be seen that as years went by, the kilometers of the underground railways built as well as the population that use it decreases.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have identified the main features and made relevant comparisons. However, there are significant factual errors regarding the dates. You stated that most cities opened in the 19th century, but the table shows only London and Paris did. You also incorrectly identified the 19th century as the 18th century for London and mislabeled the 20th century as the 20s. Furthermore, your concluding statement that the number of passengers decreases as years go by is not supported by the data (e.g., Tokyo, opened in 1927, has the highest passenger count). Accuracy in reporting data is essential for Task 1.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is organised into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion'. However, the referencing is sometimes unclear, and the logical flow is hampered by the factual inaccuracies mentioned in the Task Achievement section. The transition between ideas is generally functional, but the progression of the argument is weakened by the misinterpretation of the data provided in the table.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You have a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey the main points, using terms like 'illustrates', 'established', and 'respectively'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'population of passengers' (passengers are not a population) and 'followed the route' (which is not standard terminology for transport statistics). To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise collocations related to data reporting and transport systems.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'Los angeles being the only city opened in the 20th century has the second least kilometers' (missing commas and awkward phrasing) and 'population that use it decreases' (subject-verb agreement error). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your general meaning, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall fluency of the writing.

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