Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-24
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 given information below in rows and columns demonstrates the data about infrastructure of underground railway system in six urban cities including London,Paris,Tokyo,Washinton DC,Kyoto and Los Angeles.
On the first hand,we can clearly clarify that the underground railway system in city of London is the oldest of them all an was opened during 1863AD with the route of 394 kilopmeteres as well as carries about 775 million passengers annually.Whereas,the railway system in Los Angeles is opened lately as compared to others including route of 28 kilometers and carring 50 millions of passengers every year.
Secondly,the Tokyo underground railway station is considered as the busiest with accomodation of 1927 passengers every year.However, the railway station situated at paris provides service to 1191 million passengers which gives the identification of second busiest railway station.
Moreover,the railway of Washington DC with 126 kilometeres of route and carries 144 millions passengers every year.The kyoto station is the smallest railway station about 11 kilometers in distance and carrying 45 million passengers annually.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features from the table and making relevant comparisons between the cities. The student successfully identifies the oldest system (London) and the newest (Los Angeles), as well as highlighting the busiest station (Tokyo) and the smallest (Kyoto). Data is accurately cited throughout, such as referencing the 394 kilometers of route for London and 11 kilometers for Kyoto. However, there is a minor numerical misinterpretation where the student states Tokyo has '1927 passengers' instead of 1927 million passengers. Overall, the information is selected and reported adequately to fulfill the requirements of Academic Task 1, positioning the response well within the Band 6.0 to 6.5 range.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing used to separate different points of comparison. The student attempts to use cohesive devices and transition markers to guide the reader, such as 'On the first hand', 'Secondly', and 'Moreover'. However, some of these cohesive phrases are unnatural or incorrectly used, notably 'On the first hand' instead of 'On the one hand' or 'First of all'. Additionally, referencing and paragraph transitions can feel somewhat mechanical at times. While the progression of ideas is generally clear, the slight awkwardness in conjunctive links prevents the score from reaching a higher band level.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to urban infrastructure and transport such as 'infrastructure', 'underground railway system', 'route', and 'annually'. However, there are numerous lexical and collocation errors throughout the response, including spelling and word formation mistakes like 'kilopmeteres', 'carring', 'accomodation', and 'opened lately' (instead of 'opened recently'). Furthermore, precision is lacking in expressions like 'clarify that' when 'state' or 'observe' was intended. These errors do not entirely impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, demonstrating some ability to form relative clauses and comparative statements. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in verb tense, voice, and preposition use. Examples include 'an was opened' (missing subject and incorrect article), 'is opened lately' (incorrect tense), and missing prepositions such as 'carries 144 millions passengers'. Punctuation and spacing issues are also prominent, particularly missing spaces after commas throughout the text. These persistent errors cause some difficulty and distraction for the reader, placing the response firmly at Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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