Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-04
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 table graph illustrates the underline railway system in six towns, namely London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto and Los Angles.
Overall, it is evident that London recorded the highest and longest railway station, while Los Angles experienced the lowest and newest underground railway station. In terms of passengers Tokyo had the highest figure and Kyoto had the least figure.
Looking first at London had 394 kilometers of route and 775 million passengers in 1863. followed by Paris 199 km route and 1191 million passengers in1900. In addition, Tokyo had had the third highest 155 km of route with and the highest passengers in 1927 million in 1927.
Turning into Washington Dc had the fourth highest route and passengers with 126 km and 144 million. This was followed by Los Angeles with 28 km route and 50 million passengers. Kyoto had the smallest km of route 11 and 45 million passengers per year .
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response covers all the requirements of the task by reporting on the six cities and identifying key features such as the oldest/longest systems and passenger numbers. However, the overview is slightly inaccurate; for instance, the student claims London has the 'longest railway station,' which is a misinterpretation of 'kilometers of route.' Additionally, the data for Tokyo is misread, stating '1927 million' as the passenger count, when 1927 is the year it opened. While the main features are selected, the lack of precision in interpreting the data and the confusion between years and passenger figures limits the score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into logical paragraphs, starting with an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Looking first at,' 'In addition,' and 'Turning into,' though some are used awkwardly (e.g., 'Turning into' is not a standard transition). The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the referencing is occasionally confusing, particularly in the third paragraph where the sentence structure becomes repetitive and the flow is hindered by grammatical errors.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. There are several errors in word choice, such as 'underline' instead of 'underground,' 'towns' instead of 'cities,' and 'longest railway station' instead of 'longest route.' The student relies on basic descriptive language. While the meaning is generally conveyed, the misuse of terms and the confusion between data points (e.g., treating the year 1927 as a passenger count) indicate a limited control over the necessary terminology for data interpretation.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include 'London had 394 kilometers of route... in 1863. followed by Paris,' which is a sentence fragment, and 'Tokyo had had the third highest,' which uses an incorrect tense. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing commas and incorrect capitalization (e.g., 'Washington Dc'). These errors are frequent, though they do not completely impede the reader's ability to understand the general information provided.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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