Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-12

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 illustrates the data of the underground railway systems with date at which it got opened, route and passengers list in six distinct cities such as London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto, Los angeles.

Overall, it is evident from the table that Tokyo accounted dominance in the category of passengers per year. While Paris had the longest route and Kyoto had the shortest route.

London had the longest route which is 394 kilometers and 775 millions passengers travel through underground railway. Based on number of travelers, Tokyo accounted the first position. It has 1927 millions travelers who prefers to travel from railway. While it follows the route of 155 killometers.

While, Kyoto had the least number of individuals who prefered to migrate via railway facilities. Almost 45 millions passengers used railway as a trasport facility in a year. Kyoto traveles on the shortest route which is 11 killiometers. After Kyoto, Los Angeles had lowest passengers and shortest distance which is 50 millions and 28 killometers, respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully covers all parts of the prompt by selecting, reporting, and comparing the key features of the underground railway systems in the six cities. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, highlighting Tokyo's dominance in passenger numbers, Paris's longest route, and Kyoto's shortest route. Key data points such as London's route length and Tokyo's passenger volume are accurately cited and contrasted. However, there are some minor factual slips in the body paragraphs, such as the claim that London 'had the longest route', whereas the table clearly shows Paris has the longest route at 199 kilometers? Wait, London is actually 394 kilometers, so the student is correct about London, but contradicts their own overview where they stated Paris had the longest route. Despite this minor internal contradiction, the main trends are adequately covered, earning a solid band score for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into four paragraphs, following a logical structure with an introduction, an overview, and two detail paragraphs. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'While', and 'After Kyoto' are used to signal relationships between ideas. However, paragraphing and referencing are occasionally mechanical or slightly disjointed. For instance, the transition between ideas in the third paragraph feels a bit abrupt when shifting from London to Tokyo. Additionally, referencing could be smoother, as seen in the sentence 'While it follows the route of 155 killometers', where the pronoun reference is somewhat ambiguous. Overall progression is maintained, but cohesion requires more natural management to reach a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'dominance', 'accounted', and 'facilities'. However, there are several lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, including 'date at which it got opened' instead of 'opening date', 'accounted the first position' instead of 'secured the top position', and spelling errors such as 'killometers' and 'traveles'. The phrase 'migrate via railway facilities' is also inappropriate in this context, as 'commute' or 'travel' is more suitable than 'migrate'. These inaccuracies prevent the vocabulary score from rising into the higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using subordinate clauses introduced by words like 'while' and 'as'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several tense and verb form errors, such as 'got opened' instead of 'opened', 'prefers to travel' instead of 'prefer to travel' or 'preferred', and 'prefered to migrate' (misspelled and incorrect tense agreement). Punctuation and article usage are also shaky in places, such as missing articles before plural or singular countable nouns ('shortest distance which is 50 millions and 28 killometers'). The majority of sentences contain minor structural or grammatical flaws, limiting the score to a band 5.5.

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

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