Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-29
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 table gives information about underground railway system in six different citys around the world showing when they opened and how much kilometres and how many passenger in year used it .
overall it can be seen that older underground system tend to have longer routes, while tokyo has the highest number of passengers and it is not oldest . also Los Angeles is the newest system among all of them.
looking at the details london underground is the oldest one which is opened 1863. it also has the longest route. of 394 km but its yearly passengers is 775 million which is less than the paris and tokyo.
paris opened in 1900 with 199 km route and carries 1191 million every year.
on the other hand , tokyo system started in 1972 and it has 155 km of route . interestingly tojyo has the highest passenger per year , reaching 1927 million and it is maximum in taable . whereas washington DC opened in 1976 with 126 km of route and 144 million passengers . the newst system are kyoto opened in 2001. kyoto has only 11 km of route and 45 milkion passenges .
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student covers all parts of the task by selecting and reporting the main features of the underground railway systems across six cities, including dates opened, route lengths, and passenger numbers. Key comparisons are successfully made, such as noting that London is the oldest with the longest route, while Tokyo handles the highest passenger volume. An overview is successfully provided in the second paragraph, highlighting broader trends like older systems tending to have longer routes. However, there is a factual error in the body text regarding Tokyo's opening date, stating it started in 1972 instead of the correct 1927 given in the table. Additionally, Kyoto's opening date and passenger figures are grouped awkwardly at the end. Despite these minor data misreadings, the core requirements of Task 1 are addressed adequately, positioning this response securely at Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response is organized into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction and a clear overall summary, followed by body paragraphs detailing specific cities. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as 'overall it can be seen', 'on the other hand', and 'whereas'. However, referencing and punctuation are sometimes faulty or mechanical; the lack of capitalisation at the beginning of sentences and missing punctuation between clauses detracts from the flow. Paragraphing is present and serves to separate the introduction, overview, and body details, but the transition between ideas within paragraphs can feel abrupt due to weak cohesive control, leading to a Band 6.0 placement for cohesion.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using terms related to data reporting such as 'underground railway system', 'highest number of passengers', and 'route'. However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors throughout, including 'citys' instead of cities, 'how much kilometres' instead of how many, 'newst' instead of newest, and 'milkion passenges' instead of million passengers. The student attempts less common vocabulary like 'tend to have', but these lexical and spelling errors are frequent enough to impede smooth reading in places, aligning the response with Band 5.5 descriptors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'while tokyo has the highest number of passengers and it is not oldest' and 'older underground system tend to have longer routes'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak due to consistent punctuation and capitalization failures, omission of plural markers, and subject-verb agreement errors (e.g., 'older underground system tend', 'is opened 1863'). Complex structures often contain errors, and basic punctuation is largely absent throughout the text. These frequent errors across simple and complex sentences place the grammar score at a Band 5.0.
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