Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · 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 4.5)
The table chart illustrates information about the underground railway systems in six cities.
Overall Tokyo underground railway used by the most of passengers and Kyoto underground railway used least by the passengers.
In this table chart we will dicuss underground railways in diffrent cities.Most ancient railway is opened in London in 1863 and the most recent railway opened in Los Angeles in 2001 and rest of are Pairs in 1900,Tokyo in 1927,Washing ton DC in 1976,and Kyoto in 1981.Now tuis tables compare km of route of each railway London is on top with higest km of route and Kyoto is at bottom woth lowest km of route after that Pairs comes with 199,Tokyo with 155,Washing ton DC with 126,and Los Angeles with 28 km of route.At last table dicuss number of passenger per year in millions.Railway which have highest passenger is Tokyo about 1927 compare to Kyoto about 45 .London have 775,Pairs have 1191 passenger which come in second position,Washing ton DC have 144 and at last Los Angeles have 50 passenger per year
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 4.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response attempts to cover the main features of the table, noting the oldest and newest railways, route lengths, and passenger numbers. However, the information is presented in a very basic and sometimes inaccurate way. For instance, the student states that Tokyo has the most passengers (1927 million) and Kyoto has the least (45 million), which is correct, but the overall summary misses broader trends and lacks proper data integration. Several figures are listed as a continuous block of text rather than being structured logically into clear comparisons. This leads to an under-development of the task requirements, aligning the response with Band 5.0 descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0
The text suffers from a severe lack of paragraphing, appearing as a single dense block of text with only two very short initial sentences. Cohesive devices are either missing or misused, relying heavily on repetitive phrases like 'and then' or listing data sequentially with commas and basic conjunctions. There is no clear overall progression, and the transitions between dates, route lengths, and passenger numbers feel abrupt and unstructured. Referencing is frequently unclear, causing the reader to struggle to follow the flow of information. This reflects the characteristics of Band 4.0 in terms of organisational control.
Lexical Resource — Band 4.0
The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, with frequent reliance on words from the prompt such as 'railway', 'cities', 'passengers', and 'route'. There are numerous spelling errors and awkward word formations, such as 'dicuss' instead of discuss, 'diffrent' instead of different, 'Pairs' instead of Paris, 'Washing ton' instead of Washington, and 'woth' instead of with. The range of vocabulary is severely limited and inadequate for an Academic Task 1 response, resulting in a Band 4.0 score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0
The response shows a very limited range of grammatical structures. Most sentences are simple, and attempts at complex structures are either absent or grammatically broken, such as 'Overall Tokyo underground railway used by the most of passengers' (missing passive voice or subject-verb agreement) and 'Most ancient railway is opened in London'. There are constant errors in punctuation, capitalization, and verb tenses throughout the text. These frequent errors frequently impede communication and place the response firmly in the Band 4.0 category.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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