Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-01
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 below displays the underground railway systems in six big cities in different years.
Overall, the most noticable trend is that kyoto had the shortest killometers of route and the least amount of passengers in 1981. In addition, london had the longest kilometers of route in 1863. Additionally, tokyo's passengers amount in per year was 1927 million, which is the biggest amount of other cities in 1927.
In 1863, had the longest kilometers of route compared to other cities in different time lines was 394 killometers in London. In Paris, route was 199 kilometers but the amount of passengers was more than london's passengers in per year about 416 million people. In addition, the number of passengers in Tokyo was the highest among all the cities and had less distance of route compared to London and Paris.
Furthermore, Washington DC had 126 kilometers of metro line and had 144 millions user of underground railway. On the other hand, Kyoto had 11 kilometers of distance of railway and had 45 millions of passengers in per year in 1981. Additionally, Los Angeles had 28 killometers of route and 50 millions of users of metro in 2001.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses the task only partially because the overview and data selection are limited and flawed. While the student attempts to summarise the table, the overview is weak, inaccurately attributing the opening dates to the metrics themselves, such as stating Kyoto had the shortest route in 1981 and London had the longest in 1863. Furthermore, some key features are under-developed or inaccurately reported, such as claiming Tokyo had the biggest passenger amount of other cities in 1927 when the table actually shows Tokyo's passenger volume reached 1,927 million (the highest overall). Ideas are presented, but the lack of a clear, accurate overview and mechanical selection of data keep this part of the writing limited.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
There is some organisation in the essay, attempting to group cities and report their metrics, but there is no clear overall progression throughout the text. The paragraphs feel disjointed, and the relationships between ideas are not always smooth. Cohesive devices are used repeatedly or inaccurately, such as excessive reliance on transitional markers like 'In addition', 'Additionally', and 'Furthermore' at the start of sentences without creating genuine logical flow. Paragraphing is present, but referencing is sometimes unclear, making it difficult for the reader to follow the exact comparisons being made between cities and timelines.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for describing basic data. The student demonstrates some awareness of topic-related terms like 'underground railway systems', 'route', and 'passengers', but relies heavily on repetitive phrasing such as 'amount of passengers' and 'kilometers of route'. There are noticeable lexical and spelling errors that cause some difficulty for the reader, such as 'noticable', 'killometers', and awkward phrasing like 'passengers amount in per year'. Less common lexical items are attempted with inaccuracy in word choice and collocation, preventing the response from reaching a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writer uses a limited range of structures and struggles significantly with grammatical control. Attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, leading to awkward and ungrammatical constructions such as 'In 1863, had the longest kilometers of route compared to other cities in different time lines was 394 killometers in London.' There are frequent errors in verb forms, sentence structure, missing subjects, and capitalization (e.g., 'kyoto', 'london', 'tokyo'), alongside persistent punctuation errors. These frequent errors cause strain and difficulty for the reader throughout the response.
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