Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · 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 4.5)
the table below illustrates the underground railway system ( london,paris,tokyo,washington DC, kyoto and loss angles ) in six cities. units are measured in numbers.
Overall, the maximum number of passenger use transport in paris and toky which opend in 1900 and 1927 respectivily. recenlty opened railway station are kyoto and los angles which cover only shortest distance around 11 and 28 kilometer along with passenger also use minimum transport. while the other consist of medium range but it was constructed around 100 years ago.
first of all, london constructed a railway system its route spread about 394 kilometer and 775 million people benefy around the year. similarly, paris and tokyo develop the system it route are lower than london but most people like to travel throuhg transport as roughly figure for both country which is 1191 and 1927 respectivily.
kyoto and los angles are the country who implent the system very late in 1980 to 2000. they made a smaller rough and smaller number of people travel
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 4.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response attempts to cover the main features of the table, noting key cities like London, Paris, and Tokyo for their passenger numbers and route lengths, alongside more recently opened systems like Kyoto and Los Angeles. However, the student struggles to fully and accurately report the data. For instance, the claim that Tokyo has the maximum number of passengers is correct (1,927 million), but the text contains significant inaccuracies and a lack of precise detail regarding the figures. Furthermore, the response is cut short at the end, leaving ideas under-developed. While a general overview is provided in the second paragraph, the overall task completion is limited, aligning closely with Band 5 descriptors where the task is addressed only partially and ideas remain underdeveloped.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The text is organized into basic paragraphs, beginning with an introductory statement, an overview, and subsequent body paragraphs. However, the overall progression is disrupted by mechanical and faulty cohesive devices. Phrases like 'first of all' and abrupt transitions between sentences make the flow disjointed. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final paragraph is abruptly cut off and incomplete. Referencing and linking between ideas are often confusing, resulting in an unclear logical structure. These features reflect Band 5, characterized by some organization but lacking a clear overall progression and featuring inadequate or repetitive cohesive devices.
Lexical Resource — Band 4.0
The vocabulary used is basic and frequently repetitive, with numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text (e.g., 'loss angles' for Los Angeles, 'opend', 'reservitily' intended as respectively, 'benefy', 'throuhg', 'implent', and 'rough' instead of route). While the student attempts to use some less common vocabulary such as 'illustrates', 'maximum', and 'consist', the high frequency of spelling and lexical errors restricts communication and causes difficulty for the reader at times. This performance corresponds to Band 4, where basic vocabulary is used and errors occasionally strain the reader's understanding.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0
The student uses a limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences joined by basic conjunctions. Attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, such as 'Overall, the maximum number of passenger use transport in paris and toky which opend in 1900 and 1927 respectivily.' Grammatical errors are highly frequent, including subject-verb agreement issues ('passenger use', 'station are'), tense errors ('it was constructed' referring to plural systems), and pervasive punctuation and capitalization mistakes. Because errors occur in almost every sentence and frequently distort meaning or cause difficulty, the writing aligns with Band 4 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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