Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-30
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 depicts the information of undergound railways system in varoius cities such as London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto, Los Angeles.
Overall it can clearly be seen that highest kilometer of route is of London, while the lowest kilometers of route for kyoto. Futhermore, Tokyo holds highest numbers of passengers per year, whereas kyoto had least passengers number per year.
To embark with, the first underground railways system is opened in 1863 in London with the kilometers if route is 394 and the people using public transportation per year was estimated 775. In addition, after london paris was the second city had 1191 passengers per year with 199 kilometers of route. In 1927, Tokyo started underground railways system with the highest passengers per year among all cities.
Regarding the other data, Kyoto had the fewest kilometers of route with 45 traveller per year. Moreover, washington underground railways syste was inaugrated in ther year 1976 and the commuters were 144. At last los angeles was introduced this system in 2001 with 28 kilometers of route and 50 rail users.
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 student attempts to address all parts of the prompt by summarizing the table's main features and making comparisons, such as noting that London has the longest route and Tokyo the highest number of passengers. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in the data reporting. For instance, the student states that Kyoto had '45 traveller per year' when 45 represents millions of passengers, and confuses route length with passenger numbers in that sentence. Furthermore, the selection of data is sometimes uneven, leading to a partial and slightly disjointed overview. Consequently, the response aligns best with Band 5 due to inaccurate data reporting and limited development.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The text is divided into four paragraphs, which shows an attempt at logical structuring with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. However, overall progression is hindered by awkward transitions and confusing sentence connections. Cohesive devices are sometimes inaccurate or clumsy, as seen with phrases like 'To embark with' and 'At last los angeles was introduced this system'. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as ambiguous pronoun use. Paragraphing is present, but the internal logical flow within paragraphs is weak. These features place the response firmly in Band 5.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student uses a basic and repetitive vocabulary range, with frequent spelling errors ('undergound', 'varoius', 'Futhermore', 'inaugrated') and word-form inaccuracies ('highest kilometer of route', 'least passengers number'). There are attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'inaugurated' and 'commuters', but the execution is flawed. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the general topic, errors in spelling and word choice cause noticeable strain for the reader, fitting the Band 5 criteria.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response exhibits a very limited range of structures, with frequent grammatical errors. Simple sentences predominate, and attempts at complex structures are often faulty, such as 'with the kilometers if route is 394' and 'paris was the second city had 1191 passengers'. Punctuation and capitalization are also unreliable throughout the text (e.g., lowercase 'london', 'paris', 'los angeles'). Because errors are frequent and occasionally cause difficulty for the reader in parsing the intended meaning, a band score of 5.0 is appropriate.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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