Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-19

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 chart illustrates the underground railway system in several cities on different date, time and which routes is preferable in the whole year.

The data show in this picture is about how many people traveling using underground trains, in 1927 a heavy crowd of Tokyo travelling through train with 155 kilometers of routes. Similarly, Paris was the second city that shows the large group of people were travelled about 199 km in 1900. Although, some cities was low travelling history.

In nineteenth century, significant amount of tourist move through railways and travelled thousands of kilometers, but the only one city was the moderate that was London. However, many areas in different cities do not have good railway system that shown in this diagram, like in Kyoto only 45 passengers were travelled in 1981, same as in Los Angeles was second lowest railway system according to this graph. Although, in 1976 Washington DC was the average travelling history and used 126 kilometer.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response attempts to summarise the data but fails to accurately report the key features. There are significant factual errors, such as misinterpreting the 'passengers per year' data (e.g., stating Kyoto had 45 passengers rather than 45 million). The overview is missing, and the comparison between cities is confusing and lacks clarity. The student struggles to identify the most significant trends, such as the contrast between the oldest system (London) and the busiest (Tokyo). The information provided is often inaccurate or poorly contextualised, which prevents a clear summary of the table.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is divided into paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. The use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inappropriate, such as the misuse of 'Although' and 'Similarly' to connect unrelated or factually incorrect points. Referencing is unclear, and the transition between ideas is disjointed. The lack of a clear overview and the confusing structure make it difficult for the reader to follow the intended comparison of the railway systems.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is limited and often used incorrectly. Phrases like 'heavy crowd of Tokyo' and 'low travelling history' are unnatural and imprecise. The student struggles to use appropriate terminology for describing data, such as 'passengers per year' or 'route length'. There is a reliance on basic vocabulary, and the misuse of terms like 'nineteenth century' (when referring to 1927 or 1976) demonstrates a lack of control over the language needed for this task.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede communication. There are issues with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'some cities was', 'many areas... do not have'), incorrect verb tenses, and awkward sentence structures. The use of complex sentences is attempted but often results in errors, such as 'The data show in this picture is about how many people traveling using underground trains'. Punctuation is also inconsistent, which further detracts from the clarity of the writing.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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