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 information about the systems of underground railways in six different cities in different years. Overall, it is noticeable that the highest number of passengers was recorded in Paris, whereas Kyoto and Los Angeles had the lowest passengers in underground railway systems.
Turning to the details, in 1900, 1191 millions passengers were recorded in Paris. It covered the 394 kilometers of route. Similarly, London had the highest kilometers of route was 394 km and contained 775 millions passengers in 1863. In addition, Tokyo and Washington DC accounted for 1927 and 144 millions passengers respectively. The trains covered 155 and 126 kilometers of route in both cities in 1927 and 1976. Lastly, Kyoto and Los Angeles experienced the lowest number of passengers, having 45 and 50 million passengers, with fewer number of routes covered in 1981 and 2001. In conclusion, Kyoto and Los Angeles witnessed the lowest underground railway systems as compared to other cities.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student covers all parts of the prompt by presenting data for all six cities across the four categories (Date opened, Kilometers of route, Passengers per year). An overview is provided at the beginning and end, stating the main trends such as Paris having the highest passenger numbers and Kyoto and Los Angeles having the lowest. However, there are some inaccuracies in reporting the data: the student states that London had the highest kilometers of route at 394 km in 1863, but London opened in 1863 and has 394 km, whereas Tokyo actually had 1927 million passengers, which the student mistakenly attributes to passenger numbers for Tokyo and Washington DC combined or misreads entirely from the table. Furthermore, some data points are generalised rather than fully reported. This falls under Band 6, where all parts are addressed, but some details are inaccurate or under-developed.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is arranged into a logical structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding sentence. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as "Overall," "Turning to the details," "In addition," and "In conclusion." However, paragraphing is somewhat basic and the progression of information feels a bit mechanical due to listing data points consecutively. Referencing is occasionally confusing, as seen in sentences like "Tokyo and Washington DC accounted for 1927 and 144 millions passengers respectively. The trains covered 155 and 126 kilometers of route in both cities in 1927 and 1976," which conflates the opening dates and route lengths awkwardly. These issues fit the Band 6 descriptor where the response has a coherent overall arrangement, but cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully employing terms like "illustrates," "recorded," "experience," and "witnessed." There are, however, noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as "the highest kilometers of route was 394 km" and "with fewer number of routes covered." There are also pluralisation errors like "1191 millions passengers" instead of "million passengers." These errors do not impede overall communication, but they restrict the lexical score to Band 6, where the vocabulary is adequate for the task with some attempts at less common items that contain inaccuracies.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as "Turning to the details, in 1900, 1191 millions passengers were recorded in Paris." There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, including awkward passive and active transitions ("London had the highest kilometers of route was 394 km"), incorrect prepositions or modifiers ("with fewer number of routes covered"), and subject-verb/tense confusions. Despite these errors, the meaning remains mostly clear and communication is not seriously impeded. This performance aligns with Band 6, featuring a mix of simple and complex structures alongside frequent non-systematic errors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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