Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-18

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 underground railway systems of the six major cities including London, Kyoto, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC & Los Angeles are provided below.

With the railway systems started in the year 1863, London becomes the first among all six to have started it's own railway system. It is also the railway system with the highest kms's of route ( 394 kms ). Furthermore, in the year 1900 Paris, 1927 Tokyo, 1976 Washington DC, 1981 Kyoto were the railway systems to have begun operating next in line. The highest number of passengers per year is 1927 by the Tokyo railway system, followed by Paris, London, Washington DC, Los Angeles & Kyoto. The most recent one is the Los Angeles railway system inaugurated in 2001 with just 50 passengers per year, although when it comes to kilometers of route, Kyoto is at the least with only 11 kms of route. Therefore the most important railway system in comparison becomes the London railway system.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features from the table including dates, routes, and passenger numbers, and makes relevant comparisons across the six cities such as identifying London as the oldest and Tokyo as having the highest passenger volume. However, there is a minor data misinterpretation or imprecise reporting in the body paragraph where the student states that the Los Angeles railway system has 'just 50 passengers per year', failing to note the unit in millions (50 million). Furthermore, the concluding remark that London 'becomes the most important railway system' is a subjective assertion not supported by the data provided. Consequently, the response addresses the prompt with some limitations in data accuracy and interpretation, placing it at a Band 6.0 level according to the task achievement descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement and attempts to sequence information logically from the oldest systems to the newest ones. Cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'although', and 'Therefore' are employed to connect ideas, though some transitional phrasing feels slightly mechanical or forced. Paragraphing is noticeably underdeveloped, as nearly the entire body of the report is compressed into a single, bulky second paragraph following a one-sentence introduction. This lack of clear paragraph breaks to separate distinct trends or data categories hinders the logical progression of the writing. Referencing and referencing chains are generally clear, but the lack of structural division keeps this criterion at a Band 5.5 to 6.0 level. Overall, better chunking of information into distinct paragraphs is necessary for a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for an academic task, incorporating terms such as 'railway systems', 'inaugurated', 'kilometers of route', and 'passengers per year'. However, there are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as writing 'kms's' instead of kilometers, and referring to 'kms of route' repeatedly rather than varying the terminology. Additionally, the phrase 'Kyoto is at the least' exhibits awkward phrasing. While the vocabulary allows the message to be communicated clearly, the presence of these lexical inaccuracies and the lack of a wider range of sophisticated or less common items constrain the score to Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and participial phrases such as 'with the railway systems started in the year 1863' and 'the most recent one is the Los Angeles railway system inaugurated in 2001'. However, control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There is a notable punctuation and spelling error with the possessive apostrophe in 'it's own railway system' instead of 'its', and awkward punctuation with brackets around '( 394 kms )'. Furthermore, subject-verb agreement and tense consistency show occasional strain, such as 'London becomes the first'. Despite these recurring errors, the sentences do not generally impede overall communication, supporting a Band 6.0 score.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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