Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-22
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 given table illustrates the data by choosing and reporting the important facts, and create the comparison beetween six cities from 1863 to 2001.
Overall, the London has the longest routes of railway meanwhile, Kyoto has the shortest route. Additionally, Tokyo accounted substantial number of passengers who follow underground railway systems per year. Nevertheless, Kyoto has the least number of passenger.
To begin with, Londan has 394 kilometers underground railway route where, 775 millions passengers used that route in 1863. Eventually, in this figure, Paris has 199 kilometers route and 1191 passengers. Simmilarly, Tokyo has a significant number of passengers having 1927 millions allowing with 155 killometers route in 1927.
On the other hand, Washington DC has 126 kilometers and 144 millions passengers who followed the underground railway systems in 1976. However, in Kyoto, only 11 kilometers routet and 45 millions passengers which demonstarte the least data among others in comparision. Ultimately, Los Angles has 28 kilometers path as well as 50 millions travellers follow that way in 2001.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response successfully covers all the key features of the provided table, including data points for the six cities across the different categories (date opened, route length, and passenger numbers). An overview is provided, highlighting the extremes such as London having the longest routes and Kyoto having the shortest route, along with Tokyo's significant passenger numbers. However, the student misinterprets the data structure by stating that passengers used the routes in the year the system opened (e.g., stating that 775 million passengers used the London underground in 1863), rather than treating the date opened and annual passengers as separate independent metrics. Furthermore, there are minor factual misreadings of the numbers, such as writing '1191 passengers' instead of '1191 millions'. These lapses in data interpretation prevent the response from achieving a higher band score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The text is divided into four paragraphs, following a logical introduction, overview, and body paragraph structure. Cohesive devices and transition signals such as 'Overall', 'To begin with', and 'On the other hand' are utilized to guide the reader through the data. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical, such as the awkward phrasing 'Eventually, in this figure' and the abrupt transitions between cities. Paragraphing is present and helps structure the response, but overall progression within paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by confusing sentence constructions and data integration.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for a data summary, using terms such as 'illustrates', 'substantial number', 'significant', and 'comparision'. However, there are numerous lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, including 'beetween', 'Londan', 'Simmilarly', 'killometers', 'routet', 'demonstarte', and 'Los Angles'. While the meaning is generally clear despite these errors, the frequent inaccuracies in word choice and spelling limit the lexical score to the Band 5.5 range.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and comparative structures (e.g., 'where, 775 millions passengers used that route', 'who followed the underground railway systems'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors such as subject-verb agreement issues ('the London has', 'Kyoto has the least number of passenger'), missing prepositions, and awkward relative clauses. Punctuation errors, such as unnecessary commas before 'meanwhile' and relative pronouns, are also common. These frequent errors restrict the grammatical score.
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