Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-22
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)
The pie chart illustrates the proportion of worldwide land degradation caused by four categories, while the table provides information about reasons of land degradation affecting three regions, namely North America, Europe and Oceania in 1990s.
Overall, it is clear that over-grazing accounted for the primary cause of land degradation, followed by deforestation. Meanwhile, Europe was the most affected region, while North America experienced the least land degradation in that time.
Looking at the pie chart, over-grazing and deforestation were the main causes to become the land less productive at 35% and 30 %, respectively. Over-cultivation also accounted for 28 % share of total degradation, other activities caused 7% of land less productive.
The table shows, North America witnessed 5% of its land becoming less productive, whereas deforestation, over-grazing and over-cultivation were comparatively low at 0.2%, 1.5% and 3.3 %, respectively than others. Oceania's 13% of land degraded, whereas over-cultivation contributed zero percent. Europe's 23% share of its land became less productive, mainly caused by deforestation and over-cultivation at 9.8 % and 7.7% respectively.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 1.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 4.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0
The response is completely off-topic. The task required a summary of data regarding underground railway systems in six cities, but the student provided a description of a pie chart and table concerning land degradation. Because the student failed to address the actual prompt provided, the task achievement score is severely impacted. Even if the content were relevant, the student has failed to report on the specific data provided in the table about railway systems, rendering the response irrelevant to the task instructions.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0
The essay is structured with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs, which shows an understanding of the basic format for an IELTS report. However, because the content is entirely unrelated to the prompt, the logical progression is undermined. Cohesive devices such as 'meanwhile' and 'whereas' are used, but they serve to connect irrelevant information. Paragraphing is present, but the lack of connection to the actual task makes the overall coherence ineffective.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is generally appropriate for describing charts and tables (e.g., 'proportion', 'accounted for', 'witnessed', 'contributed'). The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to describe statistical data. However, because the vocabulary is applied to the wrong subject matter, it cannot be credited for fulfilling the requirements of the specific prompt. The lexical range is adequate for a descriptive task, but the lack of relevance to the provided table on railway systems is the primary issue.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'The pie chart illustrates the proportion of worldwide land degradation caused by four categories, while the table provides information...' There are some minor errors, such as 'main causes to become the land less productive' (should be 'main causes of land becoming less productive'). Despite these errors, the grammar is generally functional and does not impede communication, though the content itself is entirely incorrect for the task.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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