Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-20

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 illustrated the underground railway systems in six different cities and other informations.

Overall, there are six cities and the information about opened date, distance in kilometers and passengers per year in millions is given. Here, the Paris and Tokyo has the highest number of trveller through railway. While kyoto and Los Angeles has the lowest passengers.

First, in 1863 the railway of London has opened with route of 394 km nad 775 million passengers per year. This railway has the longest route compare to other five cities. While in Paris, railway takes place in year 1900 with route of 199 kilometeres and 1191 million passengers per year. Tokyo and Washington DC has vast difference of 49 years where Tokyo's railway was started in year 1927 and with the rout of 155 Km and Washington in 1976 with 126 Km route.

Tokyo conatins the highest ratio of 1927 million passengers. Kyoto and Los Angeles has opened railway in 1981 and 2001. where there is only rout of 11 Km in kyoto and 28 Km in Los Angeles. Where both have minimal difference of 5 million passengers. Kyoto had 45 million and Los Angeles 50 million passengers.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the table, such as the dates opened, route lengths, and passenger numbers for all six cities. Some comparisons are made, such as noting that London has the longest route and Paris and Tokyo have high passenger numbers. However, the overview is slightly basic and misses a clear synthesis of the broader trends, such as the correlation between older systems and larger networks. There are also a few inaccuracies in data reporting, such as stating that Tokyo contains the highest ratio of passengers (it has 1,927 million passengers, which is the highest absolute figure). Overall, the response addresses the prompt adequately, earning a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is arranged with an introduction, an overview paragraph, and two body paragraphs detailing specific data points, showing a logical structure. Cohesive devices are used, but some are repetitive or misused, such as 'First' and 'While'. Paragraphing is attempted, though the division of ideas could be more refined to group cities by age or size more effectively. Referencing is mostly clear, but the flow between sentences is occasionally jerky due to awkward transitions. This corresponds to Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, incorporating terms like 'underground railway systems', 'route', and 'passengers'. However, there are notable lexical and spelling errors, such as 'illustrated' instead of 'illustrates', 'informations' (uncountable noun used as plural), 'trveller', 'conatins', and 'rout'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with limited success and some awkward word choices. Communication is not severely impeded, but the errors constrain the range to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

A mix of simple and complex sentence forms is attempted, such as 'While kyoto and Los Angeles has the lowest passengers.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'The table illustrated', 'Paris and Tokyo has', 'Tokyo and Washington DC has', 'Kyoto and Los Angeles has') and prepositions. Punctuation errors also occur, such as lowercase letters for city names and stray capitalization. These errors cause some irritation for the reader, fitting the Band 5.0 descriptors.

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