Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-21
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 5.0)
The chart shows the information about underground railway systems in six major cities of different countries i.e London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto and Los Angeles.
The chart clearly show that all the underground railway station mentioned in the above cities was from 1863 to 2001.
As in London it was opened in 1863 with the route of 394 kilometers which facilitiates 775 million passengers per year.
In Paris it was opened in 1900 with the route of 199 kilometers which facilitiates 1191 million passengers per year.
In Tokyo it was opened in 1927 with the route of 155 kilometers which facilitiates 1927 million passengers per year.
In Washington DC it was opened in 1976 with the route of 126 kilometers which facilitiates 144 million passengers per year.
In Koyoto it was opened in 1981 with the route of 11 kilometers which facilitiates 45 million passengers per year
At the last, In Los Angeles it was opened in 2001 with the route of 28 kilometers which facilitiates 50 million passengers per year.
The above chart clearly explains that the most oldest underground railway station was build in London in 1863 with the most longest route of 394 kilometers while the most latest was build in Los Angeles in 2001 beside that the most shortest track is 11 kilometers in Kyoto and Tokyo has been facilitate the most passengers i.e 1927 millions per year.
The above chart explanation is the difference of opened dates, routes of tracks of underground stations in killometers and the capacity to facilitiate the passengers in the six major cities of world.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student attempts to cover all parts of the prompt by mentioning all six cities and the three data categories (date opened, route length, and passenger numbers). However, the response lacks a well-organised overview, instead listing data point by point in a repetitive formulaic structure (e.g., 'In [City] it was opened in...'). While some key features and comparisons are attempted in the concluding sentences, such as identifying the oldest system (London) and the highest passenger volume (Tokyo), the overall development is limited and mechanical. This places the performance firmly at Band 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The text suffers significantly from poor paragraphing, as almost every single sentence is written as its own separate line or mini-paragraph, destroying the logical flow of an essay. Cohesive devices are extremely basic and repetitive, heavily relying on repetitive sentence openings ('In... it was opened...') rather than flexible referencing or substitution. Although a chronological and categorical progression is somewhat visible, the lack of standard essay structure and mechanical cohesion restricts the coherence score to Band 4.5, rounded to 5.0 based on general readability.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The lexical range is limited and repetitive. The student uses basic vocabulary throughout, misspelling several words or using unnatural collocations such as 'most oldest' and 'most longest' (superlatives incorrectly combined with 'most'), as well as repeating 'facilitiates' (misspelled) for every single city. Less common lexical items are largely absent, and word choices remain elementary. However, the message is still understandable despite these lexical limitations, making this a clear Band 5.0 performance.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student relies heavily on repetitive relative clauses ('which facilitiates...') and struggles with grammatical accuracy. There are frequent errors including subject-verb agreement issues ('The chart clearly show', 'station... was'), spelling errors ('facilitiates', 'Koyoto', 'killometers'), and double superlatives ('most oldest', 'most longest', 'most latest'). Complex structures are attempted but are generally faulty and repetitive in pattern. Grammatical control is weak, fitting the Band 5 descriptor.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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