Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-30

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 provides data for comparison regarding underground railway system in six cities: London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto and Los Angeles with respect to different factors.

Overall, the older underground railway system have more passengers per year as compared to newer railway system. Similarly, kilometers of route are longer in older railway system in contrast to the newer underground railway system.

Tokyo was opened in 1927 with 155 kilometers of route has the highest passengers per year at 1927 millions. Moreover, the second highest traveler per year was in the city Paris at 1191 million which was opened in 1900 with route of 199 kilometers. London, the oldest underground railway system constructed in 1865 has 394 kilometers of track at 775 million passenger per year.

The newest built underground railway system is Los Angeles in 2001 with 28 kilometers of track at only 50 million commuters per year whereas Kyoto has the lowest passenger volume of only 45 million per year with the shortest route of 11 kilometers which was constructed in 1981. Furthermore, Washington DC has 144 million passengers per year with only 126 kilometers of route which was opened in 1981.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all requirements of the task. You have successfully identified the main features and made relevant comparisons between the cities. The overview provides a clear summary of the trends, noting the relationship between the age of the systems and their usage/size. However, there is a factual error regarding the date London opened (the table states 1863, but you wrote 1865). Additionally, while you mention Tokyo has the highest passengers, you could have more explicitly contrasted the extreme difference between Tokyo and the newer, smaller systems like Kyoto to further enhance the analytical quality of the report.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, overview, and two body paragraphs. The progression of ideas is easy to follow. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Similarly', 'Moreover', and 'Furthermore' to link your points. However, the transition between the overview and the body paragraphs could be smoother. The referencing is generally clear, though the structure of the sentences in the third paragraph is slightly repetitive, relying heavily on listing data points rather than synthesizing the information more fluidly. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the older and newer systems.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'commuters', 'volume', and 'constructed'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'newest built' (which should be 'most recently built') and 'traveler' (which should be 'passengers' to match the data). While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the information clearly, it lacks the sophistication or precision required for a higher band. You rely on basic descriptors and could benefit from more varied synonyms for 'highest' or 'lowest' to avoid repetition.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'the older underground railway system have' (subject-verb agreement) and 'which was opened in 1981' (dangling modifiers in the final paragraph). The sentence 'Tokyo was opened in 1927 with 155 kilometers of route has the highest passengers' is grammatically incorrect as it lacks a relative pronoun or a conjunction. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. More attention to subject-verb agreement and sentence construction is needed.

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