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)

The table illustrate the underground railway system across six cities of world, comparing inception of operation, route length, and passenger travelled per year.

Overall, the statistics depicted that london comprised the oldest underground railway system with longest rail network.Whereas Paris and Tokyo experienced the large volume of passengers.However, fewest people used the Kyoto and Los Angeles railway networks.

Delving into the data, a close inspection reveals that London is one of oldest constructed rail network among the other categories, opened for public use in 1863 with longest route of 392 kilometers.Although Paris and Tokyo built in 1900 and 1927, remained the oldest structures, but large quantity of people used them for commuting. The number of passengers used the Tokyo rail system and Paris was 1927 millions and 1191 millions respectively.

Kyoto and Los anglese among the least usage networks with 45 and 50 millions people used them for commuting.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The candidate has addressed the main features of the table, successfully providing an overview and comparing dates of operation, route lengths, and passenger numbers. Key data points such as London's early inception and Tokyo's massive passenger volume are highlighted. However, there are some factual inaccuracies in the details, such as stating London's route length is '392 kilometers' instead of 394, and some confusion in the phrasing regarding which cities 'remained the oldest structures'. Furthermore, the Length Check explicitly notes that the response contains 149 words, falling 1 word short of the 150-word minimum requirement. Consequently, a slight penalty has been applied to Task Achievement for under-length, resulting in a band score of 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is organized into clear paragraphs, starting with an introductory overview and moving into detailed body paragraphs. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Delving into the data', and 'Although' are used to structure the text, though some transitions feel slightly mechanical or awkward (e.g., 'remain the oldest structures'). Paragraphing is functional, and there is a logical progression of ideas from general comparisons to specific figures. However, referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly with pronoun use and sentence linkage in the third paragraph. Overall, the organizational structure is coherent enough to merit a band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'inception', 'statistics depicted', and 'commuting'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'passenger travelled' instead of 'passengers', 'anglese' (spelling error for Angeles), and 'least usage networks' instead of 'least used networks'. Additionally, capitalization errors occur with proper nouns like 'london'. While communication is not severely impeded, these repeated lexical and spelling inaccuracies restrict the score to a 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating subordinate clauses introduced by 'Although' and relative clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several structural and article errors, such as 'The table illustrate' (subject-verb agreement), 'London is one of oldest' (missing article 'the'), and 'The number of passengers used... was 1927 millions' (awkward phrasing and incorrect unit placement). Punctuation and capitalization also show flaws, such as missing spaces after periods (e.g., 'longest rail network.Whereas'). These frequent errors keep the grammar score at a 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.