Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-17
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)
London is the most oldest station operating from 1863 and has also covered major route of 394 kilometers giving services to 775 millions passengers per year, Los Angeles opened in 2001 and is the least covering passengers and kilometres. So there are total 6 stations from top to bottom London , Paris , Washington DC , Tokyo , Kyoto and los Angeles. These railways system carries and covers different numbers from kilometers to carrying passengers , London and Paris ranks the only stations which have completed a decade of 100 years of underground railways system and still serving . Underground Train station emerged from London UK and gradually reached to more countries and there cities , started there own underground Train stations. The convenience of having a train station for office leaving people, students, aged people is a blessing and a quick time saver .As the population increases day by day, the network of underground railways also expands on upgrades, more trains , more carrying capacity and always in competition for more improvements
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response attempts to cover the provided data on underground railway systems, mentioning key cities such as London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Kyoto along with some dates, routes, and passenger numbers. However, the selection and reporting of main features is flawed. There are notable inaccuracies in reporting the data; for example, the student states that Tokyo has '1927' passengers, which confuses the opening year with the passenger count (the table shows Tokyo has 1,927 million passengers). Furthermore, the response includes irrelevant personal commentary and speculation about the benefits of trains for 'office leaving people, students, aged people', which deviates from the objective analytical tone required in Academic Task 1. Consequently, the task is only partially addressed.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.5
The response suffers from significant structural and organizational issues. It consists of one lengthy, dense paragraph without appropriate division between an introduction, body details, and overview. Sentences are chained together using basic, repetitive conjunctions like commas or 'and', such as in 'London is the most oldest station... and has also covered... giving services to...'. There is a lack of clear logical progression and progression markers, making the text difficult to follow. Referencing is also weak, leading to confusion when moving between cities and statistics.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The lexical range is limited and frequently inaccurate. The student makes noticeable collocation and word-choice errors, such as 'most oldest' (instead of 'oldest' or 'the oldest'), 'least covering passengers' (rather than 'the fewest passengers'), and 'stations which have completed a decade of 100 years' (misusing 'decade' to mean a century). Vocabulary is basic and repetitive, with words like 'station', 'covering', and 'passengers' re-used without effective synonyms. These inaccuracies occasionally cause strain for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5
Grammatical control is weak, with a heavy reliance on run-on sentences joined by commas rather than proper punctuation or subordination. There are frequent basic errors, including superlative formation ('most oldest'), subject-verb agreement issues ('there cities', 'started there own'), and awkward phrasing. Complex structures are attempted but are generally faulty and lack control. Punctuation is largely neglected, resulting in long, breathless sentences that hinder readability.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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