Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-11
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 5.5)
The table demonstrates information regarding the underground railway system in six cities.
Overall, Tokyo is the City with the highest number of passenger on the underground railway, while Paris was the second City with an increase number of costumers in the railway system. However, Kyoto City has the a small number of passengers among the six cities.
The underground railway of Tokyo City has the largest number of passengers travelling in the year 1927,with 1927 passengers per year, travelling at about 155 kilometers. Moreover Paris is the second City with a huge commuters that travels the underground railway system. While London has 775 million of travelers travelling for a long period with about 394 kilometers.
Moreover, Kyoto is the only City which has a lower number of people travelling in just 11 kilometers from the year 1981.It is followed by Los Angeles with the total of 50 million of its people traveling for about 28 kilometers in year 2001.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers all parts of the task by identifying the main features and making comparisons. However, there are significant factual errors that impact the accuracy of the report. For example, you state that Tokyo had 1927 passengers in 1927, confusing the year of opening with the passenger count. Additionally, the description of London's data is slightly inaccurate regarding the 'long period' claim, which is an interpretation not supported by the data. While you highlight the extremes (Tokyo and Kyoto), the analysis lacks a more sophisticated grouping of the data, such as comparing the older systems (London/Paris) with the newer ones (Kyoto/LA).
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The response is organized into paragraphs, and there is a logical progression from an overview to specific details. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and occasionally repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'Moreover' and 'City'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the flow between sentences could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words to show contrast or addition more naturally. Paragraphing is present, but the internal structure of the paragraphs could be more cohesive to better connect the data points.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'increase number of costumers' instead of 'higher number of passengers' and 'huge commuters' which is grammatically incorrect. You rely on basic descriptors like 'large' and 'small' rather than more precise academic vocabulary. Spelling and word choice errors, such as 'costumers' (customers) and the inconsistent capitalization of 'City', are noticeable but do not completely impede communication.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response uses a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including issues with articles ('the a small number'), subject-verb agreement, and prepositions ('in the year 1927' vs 'in 1927'). The sentence 'Paris is the second City with a huge commuters that travels' contains multiple errors in pluralization and relative pronoun usage. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar and punctuation prevent the response from reaching a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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