Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-10

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 underground railway system in six cities by highlighting differences across opening date, kilometers of route and passengers per year measured in millions.

Overall, london is the oldest city to introduce the underground railway facility which also provides the longest railway route among the 6 cities. In contrast, the railway service of Los Angeles is the most recent one with a smaller routing distance and passenger usage per year.

The railway service of Tokyo opened in 1927 with a routing distance of 155 km and shows a figure of 1927 millions passengers per year, which is the highest figure in this category. The railway systems of Paris and london, first started in 1900 and 1863, also show higher values of passenger usage at 1191 millions and 775 millions, with a routing distance of 199 and 394 km,consequtively.

The railway service of tokyo, established in 1981, demonstrates the lowest figure for passenger usage at 45 millions with the smallest routing distance of 11 km. A similar phenomenon is noticeable for the railway service of Los Angeles (opened in 2001), where passenger usage is 5 millions higher and routing distance is 17 km greater than that of Kyoto's. Finally, Washington DC started their railway service in 1976 with routing distance of 126 km and passenger usage of 144 millions per year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have successfully identified the main features and made relevant comparisons between the cities. You included all the necessary data points and provided a clear overview. However, there is a factual error in your analysis: you identified Kyoto as 'tokyo' in the second paragraph, which is a significant inaccuracy given the data provided. Additionally, while you compared the cities, the report could be improved by grouping the data more logically (e.g., comparing the 'oldest' vs 'newest' or 'busiest' vs 'least busy') rather than listing them city by city, which makes the comparison feel slightly mechanical.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is logically organized into clear paragraphs. You use cohesive devices such as 'In contrast', 'Finally', and 'A similar phenomenon is noticeable' to guide the reader. However, the referencing is occasionally confusing, specifically when you refer to 'tokyo' in the second paragraph when you clearly meant Kyoto. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the overview from the detailed analysis. The flow is generally smooth, though the transition between the first and second body paragraphs could be more sophisticated to better highlight the contrast between the older, larger systems and the newer, smaller ones.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey the information clearly. Phrases like 'illustrates', 'highlighting differences', and 'routing distance' are appropriate for a report. There are some minor errors, such as 'consequtively' (spelling) and the misuse of 'tokyo' for Kyoto. You rely on some repetitive structures when describing the data. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more varied ways of describing trends and figures, such as 'accounted for', 'surpassed', or 'a significant disparity'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as the relative clause in 'which also provides the longest railway route'. There are some grammatical slips, such as 'london' and 'tokyo' not being capitalized, and '1927 millions passengers' (should be '1927 million passengers'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Punctuation is generally functional, but ensure you maintain consistent capitalization for proper nouns throughout the text.

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