Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · 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 4.0)

The railways station illustrate the railway stations in six cities.

Overall, the facility will undergo a significant city,date opened,kilometers of route and passengers per year.The main city of London which was opened date in 1863 and kilomters of route is 394.The Paris date opened is in 1900.And the kilometer of route is 1191.Two cities are located separately on the far left and right sides of this main structure.

In the future, the the city of tokyo which date opened in 1927 and the kilometer of route is 155 and the passesengers are 1927.And Washington dc which date opened in 1976.And the kilometer is 126.And the date opened of kyoto is in 1981.And kilometers of route is 11 kilo meter.And finally,in Los angeles date opened in 2001,and the passengers per year is 50.Over all this is the railway stations of undergrond railway systems.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response fails to reach the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, coming in at 142 words, which directly impacts the completeness of the task. Furthermore, the content contains severe misinterpretations of the input data, confusing dates, route lengths, and passenger numbers (e.g., stating 'the kilometer of route is 1191' for Paris, which actually applies to passengers). The overview is confused and inaccurate, mentioning things outside the data such as 'far left and right sides of this main structure'. Key features are not properly selected, compared, or reported. This performance falls below Band 5 as the task is only partially and inaccurately addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The organization of the text is highly disjointed, lacking logical progression and clear paragraph structure. Sentences are fragmented, and cohesive devices are either missing or misused, often relying on repetitive structures like 'And date opened...' or 'And the kilometer is...'. Referencing is frequently unclear, making it difficult for the reader to follow the flow of information. Paragraphing is not used effectively to group related data points. Overall, the arrangement of information lacks coherence, placing it firmly within Band 4 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is extremely basic, repetitive, and restricted to the prompt's own words ('railway stations', 'cities', 'date opened', 'kilometers of route', 'passengers per year'). There is no evidence of less common lexical items, and word choices are frequently inaccurate due to confusion between different data categories. Spelling errors and awkward collocations, such as 'passesengers' and 'undergrond', further limit the range and precision of expression. This vocabulary meets the criteria for Band 4.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting mostly of poorly constructed simple sentences and faulty attempts at complex ones. There are frequent, heavy grammatical errors throughout the text, such as missing verbs, incorrect word order, and faulty subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'The railways station illustrate', 'the city of tokyo which date opened'). Punctuation is also erratic. These frequent errors often obscure the meaning and cause strain for the reader, aligning with Band 4.

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

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