Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-04

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 4.0)

First of all, I would like to talk about the underground railway system in major six cities of the world. The railway system in every countries are major source to improve the enomy of the country because it is the very comfourt transport.

In the beginning, i discuse the underground railway system of first three cities that are London ,Paris and Tokyo. iN London it was estabilshed in 1863 and the track are spread about 394 kilometers and many stops are build in this route and the number passengers per year are 775millions .Second number city is Paris and the system are established in 1900 and the route are speard throughout 199 kilo0meters and the ratio of passengers are 1191 millions per year . At the third the is Tokyo in this city the system are established in 1927 and the route are about 155 along while the ratio of passengers is 1927 millions per year. further I discuse the remaining 3 cities that are Washington DC, Kyoto and Los Angeles . In Washingto DC the railway system are built in 1976 and route are about 126 km and the ratio of the passengers per year are v114 millions On the other hand, in kyoto the railway system are buit in 1981 and the route are about 11kms and the ratio of the passengers are 45 millions AT THE LAST lOS ANGELES SYSTEM ARE BUIT IN 2001 AND T5HE ROUTRE ARE ABOUT 28 KMS and ratio of passengers per year are 50 millions

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response attempts to cover the data provided, but it fails to effectively summarise the main features or make meaningful comparisons. Instead of identifying trends or highlighting key differences (e.g., that Tokyo has the highest passenger volume despite having a relatively small network), the response simply lists the data for each city in a repetitive, mechanical fashion. The inclusion of an introductory paragraph discussing the economy and comfort of transport is irrelevant to the task, which asks for a summary of the provided data. The response lacks an overview, which is essential for a high band score in Task 1.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The response is poorly organised. While there is an attempt to group cities, the paragraphing is ineffective, with the second paragraph becoming a long, run-on block of text. Cohesive devices are either missing or misused, such as 'At the third the is Tokyo' and 'At the last'. The progression of ideas is disjointed, and the lack of clear sentence boundaries makes the text difficult to follow. Referencing is often unclear, and the overall structure does not facilitate a logical flow of information.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary is very limited and repetitive. The student relies heavily on basic phrasing such as 'the system are established' and 'the ratio of passengers'. There are numerous spelling errors (e.g., 'enomy', 'comfourt', 'discuse', 'estabilshed', 'Washingto', 'buit') and word choice inaccuracies, such as using 'ratio' to describe raw passenger numbers. The range of vocabulary is insufficient to demonstrate any flexibility or precision, and the frequent errors occasionally impede the reader's understanding of the data.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The response contains frequent grammatical errors that significantly affect readability. There is a consistent failure in subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'the system are established', 'the track are spread'). Punctuation is poor, with many run-on sentences and inconsistent use of capital letters. The range of structures is extremely limited, consisting mostly of simple, repetitive clauses. Complex sentence structures are absent, and the errors are so frequent that they cause constant difficulty for the reader.

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