Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-15
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 provides information about underground railway systems, including their opening dates, route lengths in kilometres, annual passenger numbers in millions.
Overall, there is comparison between six cities of underground railway system. Tokyo has the largest proportion of number of passengers per year in millions whereas, Kyoto is accounted for least number of passengers per year among six cities.
Initially, London has the oldest underground railway system with largest route meanwhile opening date of Paris is second oldest underground railway system. The Kyoto has lowest route and passengers per year among six cities.
In addition, Washington DC. opened underground railway system in 1976 whereas in Los Angeles it was opened in 2001.
Furthermore, Tokyo Kyoto has lowest annual route while Los Angele similar to Kyoto. Washington DC accounted for 1927 passengers per year. Paris has maximum route figure stood at 199 per year among six cities.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response attempts to summarise the table by reporting some main features and making basic comparisons, such as noting that London has the oldest system and Tokyo has the highest passenger numbers. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in the data reporting. For instance, the text claims that 'Tokyo Kyoto has lowest annual route' and that 'Washington DC accounted for 1927 passengers per year' (confusing Tokyo's passenger count with Washington DC's data). Furthermore, the word count is 146 words, which fails to meet the minimum requirement of 150 words. Consequently, the task has only been partially addressed with noticeable data misinterpretations, leading to a Band 5.0 score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response has an overall organisation and attempts to use basic cohesive devices like 'Overall', 'Initially', and 'Furthermore'. However, the progression of ideas is frequently unclear and illogical due to confusing sentence structures and garbled data reporting. Paragraphing is attempted with several short paragraphs, but referencing and cohesion are often faulty, such as abrupt shifts between cities without clear logical links. The mechanical and sometimes inaccurate use of cohesive devices results in a Band 5.0 score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, such as repeatedly using words like 'city', 'system', 'route', and 'passengers'. There are noticeable errors in word choice and data reporting terminology, such as 'maximum route figure stood at 199 per year' and confusing 'proportion of number of passengers'. While the range is minimally adequate to convey the topic, the frequent inaccuracies and lack of precision in handling data terms restrict the score to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but many complex attempts are faulty and awkward, such as 'Tokyo has the largest proportion of number of passengers per year in millions whereas, Kyoto is accounted for least number of passengers'. There are several grammatical errors including missing articles, incorrect prepositions, and faulty verb forms like 'is accounted for' and 'Tokyo Kyoto has lowest annual route'. These errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar at a Band 5.0 level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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