Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-05

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 4.5)

The given information tella that railway network system across six cities around the world.As the information the six cities were london,paris,tokyo, washington dc,kyoto,los angeles.The information tells that by the time goes kms of route of this station decreases with kyoto becomes least although los angeles being youngest station in 2001.And various stations handles number of passengers with tokyo being highest with 1927, second with 1191 paris ,third london 775 oldest station built in 1863.And least passengers are with kyoto with 45 million per year

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response fails to meet the minimum length requirement, containing only 84 words instead of the required 150 words. Because of this severe limitation, the task is addressed only minimally. While the writer identifies a few general features from the table such as London being the oldest city and Tokyo having the highest number of passengers, the response is largely disjointed and lacks proper development. Key comparisons between cities are missing or poorly expressed, preventing the overview and main trends from being fully covered. To improve, the writer must write at least 150 words and ensure all major data points from the visual prompt are logically reported and compared.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

Information and ideas are not arranged coherently in this response. The writing lacks logical progression and is presented as a single block of text without proper paragraphing. Cohesive devices are either missing or misused, with repetitive connectors like "And" starting multiple sentences, such as "And various stations handles..." and "And least passengers are...". Referencing is also unclear, making it difficult for the reader to follow the flow of information. To move up, the writer needs to structure the response into clear paragraphs, establish a logical sequence for comparing the data, and use a wider variety of appropriate cohesive devices to connect sentences smoothly.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, utilizing restricted terms like "station", "city", and "highest". There are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as "tella" instead of "tells", "kms of route", and "youngest station". Spelling and word formation issues are also present, which occasionally strain the reader's understanding. To achieve a higher band, the writer must expand their lexical range by incorporating less common vocabulary suited for data description, such as "network", "extent", "annual ridership", and precise reporting verbs and adjectives.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The grammatical range is very limited, relying primarily on simple sentence structures that are frequently marred by errors. There are frequent issues with subject-verb agreement (e.g., "various stations handles"), missing articles, incorrect prepositions, and faulty relative clauses or participial phrases (e.g., "with kyoto becomes least"). Punctuation and sentence boundaries are poorly managed, leading to run-on expressions. To improve, the writer needs to demonstrate a greater variety of complex sentence structures while improving accuracy in basic grammar rules, tense consistency, and punctuation.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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