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)
The table below describes the informantion regarding underground railway system in six cities, distrubuted the given data into four categories. Year of opened, how long kilometers,city and passenger per year.
The first underground railway conducted in London during 1863, on an average it had a longest railway track among all cities 394 kilometeres. Moreover, the system had take place in 2001 in Los Angeles showing a very late constructed year among all cities. It was only 28 km long route with the capacity of 50 million passanger each year.
Furthermore, it opened in 1900 in Paris, it was 199 km long and 1191 million people travelled by this each year. Whereas
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5
The response attempts to summarize the information provided in the table regarding underground railway systems. However, it fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, stopping abruptly at 111 words and cutting off mid-sentence ('Whereas'). While the student does identify some main features such as London's early opening and long route, and Los Angeles as the most recent, the incomplete nature of the response and lack of a complete overview prevent a higher score. Due to the under-length penalty applied in accordance with IELTS guidelines, this criterion is restricted to a band 4.5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The text is organized into basic paragraphs and uses some cohesive devices such as 'Moreover' and 'Furthermore' to link ideas. However, the overall progression is disrupted by the abrupt ending of the essay, which terminates mid-sentence. Referencing and logical flow between ideas are hindered by grammatical inaccuracies. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final paragraph remains incomplete, reducing the overall coherence and structural integrity of the piece.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is somewhat limited and repetitive. The student attempts to use some task-specific terminology ('railway track', 'route', 'passenger'), but there are noticeable errors in word choice and morphology, such as 'informantion' (information), 'distrubuted' (distributed), 'Year of opened' (opening year), and 'passanger' (passenger). Less common vocabulary is attempted with limited success, and spelling mistakes are present. The range is minimally adequate for the task but lacks precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5
The response displays a very limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple or awkwardly constructed complex sentences. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including tense and voice issues such as 'The first underground railway conducted' (was conducted/opened), 'on an average it had a longest railway track', and 'the system had take place'. Furthermore, punctuation and incomplete thoughts—culminating in the dangling word 'Whereas'—significantly impact the clarity and accuracy of the writing.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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