Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-27

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 given table shows the information about the underground railway system in six cities namely London,

Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto, and Los Angeles.

Overall, London has the oldest underground railway system and the longest route while Los Angles has the newest system and the shortest route. Tokyo has the highest number of annual passengers while Kyoto has the smallest.

London's underground railway began from 1863, and it has the longest route at 394 kilometres and the annual passengers per years had 775 million. Despite Paris had the second-oldest system which opened in 1900 and it has the shortest route at 199km while it's annual passenger approximately at 1191 millions per year.

Regarding Tokyo's system was established in 1927, and has a route is 155km and it has the largest passenger travel per year had 1927. Whereas, Washington DC opened in 1976, it has the shortest route in 126km and 144 annually passengers.

The two newest route, Kyoto and Los angles, railway opened in 1981, it has the shortest route among the older systems in 11km. It also recorded as lowest passengers travel per year and Los Angles had the slightly longer route had 28 km and opened in 2001 after that the annually passengers had 50.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have successfully identified the main features of the table, including the oldest/newest systems and the extremes in passenger numbers and route length. You have made relevant comparisons between the cities. However, there are some inaccuracies in your reporting of the data. For example, you state that Paris has the 'shortest route' at 199km, which is incorrect as Kyoto and Los Angeles have shorter routes. Additionally, you mention that Washington DC has the 'shortest route' at 126km, which contradicts your earlier statement. Careful proofreading of the data points is essential to ensure accuracy in Task 1 responses.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is organised into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Regarding', 'Whereas', and 'Despite', although some of these are used incorrectly or lead to awkward sentence structures. For instance, 'Despite Paris had the second-oldest system...' is grammatically incorrect and disrupts the flow. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the referencing is sometimes confusing, particularly when comparing the newer systems. Improving the variety and accuracy of your linking words would help the flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'established', 'recorded', and 'annual passengers'. However, there are several instances of word-choice errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'annual passengers per years had 775 million' and 'it's annual passenger approximately at 1191 millions'. These errors occasionally make the text slightly difficult to follow. To improve, focus on using collocations correctly and ensuring that pluralisation and verb forms are consistent with the nouns they modify.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Issues include incorrect verb tenses (e.g., 'began from 1863'), subject-verb agreement, and faulty sentence construction (e.g., 'The two newest route... railway opened in 1981, it has the shortest route...'). These errors are noticeable and sometimes impede the clarity of your comparisons. To reach a higher band, you should focus on mastering basic sentence structure and ensuring that your complex sentences are grammatically sound.

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

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