Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-19

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 table provides the data on underground railway systems in six different cities with categories of date opened,kilometers of route and passengers per year.

With the passage of year different cities opened their respective railway systems with a variety of kilometers of route.London was the first one to operate its railway system in 1863.Among the six cities,Tokyo showed the highest range of passengers per year.Meanwhile Kyoto showed the minimum number of passengers that is 45 only and also the low kilometers that is 11.Los Angeles and kyoto highlighted the low passenger number .While the paris is second to tokyo with the passenger range of 1191.The kilometers of route and passengers per year in los Angeles is low because it is recently operated in 2001.

Overall,the number of passengers are increasing with the passage of time.London,Paris,Tokyo highlisht the increased passenger ratio .On the other hand,washington DC, kyoto,Los Angels showed decreased passenger number,with low kilometer range also.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student covers all parts of the prompt by presenting the main features of the table, such as the opening dates, route lengths, and annual passenger numbers. Key comparisons are made, such as noting that London opened the earliest in 1863 and that Tokyo recorded the highest number of passengers (1927 million). However, the overview paragraph contains a factual misinterpretation of the data ("Overall, the number of passengers are increasing with the passage of time"), as the data shows no chronological correlation between the opening date and passenger volume. For instance, Tokyo opened before Washington DC but has vastly more passengers, while newer systems do not uniformly have fewer passengers than older ones. This generalization limits the development of the response, placing it firmly at a Band 5.5 to 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into an introduction, a body paragraph detailing specific data points, and a concluding overview. However, the logical progression is hindered by choppy sentences and grouping errors, such as mentioning Los Angeles and Kyoto together based on low passenger numbers in a somewhat disjointed manner. Cohesive devices are basic and sometimes mechanical ("Meanwhile", "While the paris"). Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of information lacks seamless flow. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as shifting between cities without adequate transitional markers. These features align with a Band 5.5 to 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as "underground railway systems", "passengers per year", and "kilometers of route". There are frequent vocabulary and spelling errors, such as "paris" (uncapitalized), "highlisht" (highlight), "kyoto" (case inconsistency), and awkward phrasing like "low kilometers that is 11". Less common lexical items are attempted but often misused, such as "passenger range" instead of "passenger volume". The range is sufficient to convey basic meaning, but lexical control is limited, corresponding to a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as "With the passage of year different cities opened their respective railway systems with a variety of kilometers of route." Grammatical and punctuation errors are noticeable throughout the text, including missing articles ("the paris"), incorrect capitalization ("los Angeles"), subject-verb agreement issues ("the number of passengers are increasing"), and punctuation errors like missing spaces after commas. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur with high frequency and restrict the grammatical score to a Band 5.5.

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