Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-03

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 gives the information about underground railway system in different six cities.

In london, uderground railway opened in 1863 and its kilometers of route is 394 which is higher than other cities. The passenger per year is 775 million. If we see paris ratio, it was opened in 1900 and its kilometer of route is 199 and the passengers ratio per year is 1191 million which is the highest ratio. In tokyo, the opened date was 1927 and its kilometer of route is almost 155 and the peoples travel per year is 1927 million. On the otherhand, in washingon DC it was opened in 1976 and its route is 126 and the passenger ratio per year is 144 million. In kyoto, underground railway was opened in 1981 and its route is 11 which is the lowest route in chart and the ratio of passenger per year is 45 million. At the last, there was los angeles railway was opened in 2001 and its routes is almost 28 and passenger per year is 50 million.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have successfully identified the main features of the data and provided comparisons between the cities. However, the response lacks an overview paragraph, which is essential for a high band score in Task 1. You have listed the data city-by-city rather than grouping the information to highlight trends or significant differences. For example, you could have grouped the older systems (London, Paris) versus the newer ones (Kyoto, Los Angeles). While you have included all the necessary data points, the lack of a clear summary and the tendency to simply list facts prevents this from reaching a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response is written as a single paragraph, which makes it difficult to follow. You should divide your report into an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs. While you use some basic cohesive devices like 'On the other hand' and 'At the last', the progression of ideas is mechanical. The referencing is sometimes unclear, such as when you refer to 'the ratio' repeatedly, which is not the correct term for the data provided. Improving your paragraphing and using a wider variety of linking words would significantly improve the flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is somewhat limited and repetitive. You frequently use the word 'ratio' to describe raw numbers, which is inaccurate. Additionally, there are several spelling errors, such as 'london', 'uderground', 'washingon', and 'peoples'. To improve, try to use a wider range of synonyms for 'opened' (e.g., 'commenced operations', 'was established') and 'kilometers of route' (e.g., 'network size', 'track length'). You should also focus on using more precise terminology for statistical data to avoid repeating the same sentence structures.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with articles ('the given chart', 'in london'), subject-verb agreement ('there was los angeles railway was opened'), and sentence structure. Many of your sentences are simple and repetitive in their construction. While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar and punctuation hinders the overall quality. You should focus on mastering basic sentence structures and proofreading for capitalization and missing articles before attempting more complex grammatical forms.

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