Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The table provides the information regarding the underground railway systems in six distinct cities, namely London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto and Los Angeles with their opening date, length of route and passengers over a year measured in millions.

Overall, it is evident that London is the oldest and the longest railway route, whereas the Kyoto city has the shortest rail route. Additionally, Tokyo is one of the busiest railway systems with the largest passengers travelling per year.

To begin with, London city is the oldest railway system, that was opened in 163 and has the longest rail route with 394 kilometers of tracks, followed by railway system of Paris, which was opened in 1900 and it is half of as of London's rail tracks. Tokyo's rail route is about 155 kilometers and is carrying 1,927 millions of passengers a year.

On the other hand, the railway systems of Wasginton DC, Kyoto and Los Angeles were developed after 1950's with a route of 126, 11 and 28 kilometers covered by each city respectively. Kyoto is the only city which has the shortest rail route, and least count of passengers per year, stood at 45 million passenger a year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing an overview and selecting key data points to report and compare. The main features are identified accurately, noting that London is the oldest and longest system, while Tokyo is the busiest. Comparisons are made between cities, such as mentioning that Paris's route is roughly half the length of London's. However, there is a minor factual slip in the body paragraph regarding London's opening date, writing '163' instead of '1863'. Despite this, the response is generally well-developed and meets the requirements of Task 1 effectively, aligning closely with the Band 7 descriptor for addressing all parts with clear supported ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response features a clear overall progression, moving from an introduction to an overview, followed by specific details divided into logical body paragraphs. Cohesive devices are employed appropriately to guide the reader, such as 'Overall', 'To begin with', and 'On the other hand'. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate different features of the dataset. Referencing and substitution are mostly clear, though occasional minor clunkiness in linking exists, keeping it comfortably at a solid Band 7 level where organisation is clear and logical throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying numerical and comparative data with terms like 'distinct cities', 'railway route', 'busiest', and 'passengers per year'. There are attempts at less common lexical items, though some word choices and collocations show slight awkwardness, such as 'largest passengers travelling per year' instead of 'highest number of passengers'. Spelling is generally accurate, with minor slips like 'Wasginton DC'. The lexical range supports clear communication, fitting the criteria for Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and participial phrases successfully, as seen in 'railway system, that was opened in 163 and has the longest rail route'. There are some grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'it is half of as of London's rail tracks' and 'least count of passengers per year, stood at 45 million passenger a year'. However, these errors do not impede communication, placing the response securely in the Band 6 category.

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