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 given record gives information about the system of underground railways in six big cities.
Overall, underground railway system of Tokyo has highest number of passengers and length of routes while koyoto has least in terms of both passengers per year and length of routes.
London undrground railway was the oldest opened in 1863 and has longest route of 394 kilometers accross city but there are 775 millions pessengers per year travel making it third most utilized underground railway after Tokyo and Paris. Paris's underground railway system was opened in 1900 and has route of 199 kilometers and 1191 million passengers travel each yaer making it second terms of date opened and length of railway track after London and third in terms of passenger travel after London and Tokyo. Tokoyo has largest proportion of passenger even tough routes are 155 kilometers making it third longest route and was opened in 1927. Washington DC's underground railway system was opened in 1076 with 126 kilometers of route with 144 million people travel each year making it fourth big and consumed in terms of both route and pessengers. Koyoto's underground railway system was opened in 1981 with least kilometers of 11 and only 45 million people travel each year making it least consumed. Los Angeles's underground railway system was opened in 2001 with 28 kilometer of route but 50 million people per year travel making it second least consumed service.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student attempts to summarise the data by identifying key features and making comparisons between the six cities. An overview is provided at the beginning, noting Tokyo and Kyoto at the extremes. However, there are notable factual errors and generalisation mistakes in the body paragraphs. For instance, the student states that Tokyo has the highest number of passengers and length of routes, whereas the table clearly shows Paris has more passengers (1,191m vs Tokyo's 1,927m - wait, Tokyo is actually 1,927m, so Tokyo is highest; but Washington opening date is given as 1076 instead of 1976). Furthermore, the comparison details become somewhat confused and repetitive, detracting from the overall clarity. Despite these inaccuracies, all parts of the prompt are addressed, placing this in the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response is structured into an introduction and one very long, dense body paragraph rather than logical multiple paragraphs, which limits effective organisation. There is an attempt at overall progression, starting with an overview and moving through the data city by city. However, the lack of paragraph breaks makes the text difficult to digest. Cohesive devices are used repetitively and mechanically (e.g., constantly repeating 'making it... and was opened... with...'). Referencing is occasionally unclear, and the dense block of text impairs the smooth flow of information, warranting a Band 5.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to communicate basic information about the table, using terms such as 'underground railway systems', 'passengers per year', and 'length of routes'. However, there are several spelling errors ('koyoto', 'undrground', 'accross', 'pessengers', 'Tokoyo', 'consumed') and odd word choices, such as using 'consumed' to describe passenger volume or route size. Less common vocabulary is attempted but often inaccurate. These errors do not completely impede communication but occur frequently, aligning with the Band 5.0 descriptors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, often linking multiple clauses together with conjunctions and participial phrases (e.g., 'making it third most utilized...'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors including missing articles ('system of underground railways', 'longest route'), incorrect prepositions, and a major typographical date error ('opened in 1076'). Complex structures are frequently faulty and punctuation is sparse, causing some difficulty for the reader and supporting a Band 5.0 score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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