Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-16
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)
A glance of a chart gives the information about railway of different cities around the world . It gives information about the opening date , length it covers and passengers they carry every year.
Firstly, the oldest railway service in the data is of London which was established in the year 1863 , following paris in 1900 , tokyo in 1927 , Washington DC in 1976 , Kyoto in 1981 and the latest railway is of Los Angeles which was established in 2001.
Furthermore , being oldest London railways are also the longest in terms of Kilometers of route which is 394 km . Followed by paris whose route is 199 km long then tokyo with length of 155km , Washington DC has length of 126 km , Los Angeles has 28 km and kyoto has the shortest railway network of only 11 km.
At last, talking about passengers travelling per year,Tokyo railways hold the highest number of 1927 million pssegers per year followed by Paris with 1191 , London with 775 , Washington DC with 144, Los Angeles with 50 and the lowest is again kyoto with only 45 million passengers per year.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The student successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by selecting, reporting, and comparing the main features of the underground railway systems across the six cities. Key features such as opening dates, route lengths, and annual passenger numbers are accurately identified and covered. For instance, the response correctly notes that London is the oldest and longest system (1863, 394 km), while Tokyo handles the highest number of passengers (1927 million). However, the overview is somewhat weak, as it only restates the prompt in the introduction rather than providing a clear summary of overall trends. Ideas are adequately supported with data from the table, placing this performance solidly at Band 6.5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression of ideas from opening dates to route lengths, and finally to passenger volumes. Each paragraph deals with a distinct category from the table. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. The use of transitional markers like 'Firstly', 'Furthermore', and 'At last' helps structure the text, but punctuation issues around these devices (e.g., spaces before commas in 'Furthermore ,') detract from control. Referencing is generally clear, but paragraphing could be tighter and transitions more sophisticated. This meets the criteria for Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to successfully communicate information about dates, distances, and quantities. Words such as 'established', 'network', and 'passengers' are used appropriately. However, the range is limited, and there are noticeable vocabulary and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'pssegers' instead of 'passengers' and the lowercase capitalization of proper nouns like 'paris', 'tokyo', and 'kyoto'. While the writer attempts some less common vocabulary, the occasional errors and repetition of basic terms keep the lexical score at Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and participial phrases (e.g., 'which was established in the year 1863'). There are, however, frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, including missing capitalization for city names, missing articles ('is of London', 'is of Los Angeles'), and awkward phrasing like 'A glance of a chart gives'. Despite these errors, the meaning remains clear and communication is rarely impeded, aligning well with the descriptors for Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.