Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-28
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 table chart illustrates the information reagrding underground railway system in six different cities(London, Paris, Tokyo,washignton, Kyoto, and Los Angeles).
Overall, the use of railway reduces over the period. The highest distance is travelled by London, in contrast Los Angeles have the shortest route.Tokyo generate highest passengers followed by Paris and London.
In Tokyo, railway trains travell 155 km carrying 1927 passengers in a year followed by carrying 1191 passengers in london travelling 394 km. In contrast kyoto and Los Angeles travel for the shortest routes 11 km and 28 respectively, carrying 45 and 50 passengers which were the lowest.
In conclusion, usage of undeground railway by local passengers were at peak in the starting years but it reduce fastly over the time.
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 response attempts to summarise the table by mentioning the cities, dates, route lengths, and passenger numbers. However, the length requirement is not met, as the response contains only 123 words, falling short of the 150-word minimum. Furthermore, the student includes several factual and analytical errors, such as claiming that railway use reduces over a period of time and misinterpreting the table data by stating that Tokyo carried 1927 passengers (confusing the millions unit and mixing up numbers). While some main features are presented, the misunderstanding of the data and the under-length penalty restrict the score. Band 5 is awarded because the task is only partially addressed with limited and flawed data reporting.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The text is organized into four brief paragraphs, including an introduction, an overview, a body paragraph, and a conclusion. However, the overall progression is heavily flawed due to illogical conclusions drawn from static data. Cohesive devices are attempted (e.g., 'Overall', 'In contrast', 'In conclusion'), but their usage is occasionally mechanical or inaccurate. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the paragraphing is underdeveloped due to the overall brevity of the piece. Paragraph breaks are used, but logical sequencing between ideas is weak, particularly regarding the misinterpretation of historical trends from a single-year snapshot table. Band 5 is reflective of these organizational and cohesive limitations.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, with several spelling errors ('reagrding', 'washignton', 'undeground') and awkward word choices ('generate highest passengers', 'reduce fastly'). The student attempts some less common terms like 'underground railway system' and 'shortest route', but these are undermined by frequent inaccuracies in word formation and collocation. While the language is minimally adequate to convey basic topic references, the lexical range is limited and contains noticeable errors that occasionally impede smooth reading. Band 5 is appropriate here for a restricted vocabulary with frequent slip-ups in spelling and word choice.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The highest distance is travelled by London, in contrast Los Angeles have the shortest route.' However, grammatical control is weak, with frequent errors including subject-verb agreement issues ('Los Angeles have'), missing articles, capitalization errors ('washignton', 'kyoto'), and punctuation mistakes. Attempts at complex structures are often faulty or awkward. Although the meaning can mostly be deciphered despite the errors, the high frequency of basic grammatical slips keeps the response firmly at a Band 5 level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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