Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The provided tabular chart illustrates the underground transit systems in six distinct cities such as London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto and Los Angeles. In fact, this table is included with the information about railway opening years, kilometers of route and number of traveller per year in millions.

Overall, London was the first country to run a underground railway with the longest route of railway. Similarly, Tokyo has the maximum number of passengers per year.

Focusing on most travelled railway system first, in tokyo, more than 1900 million passengers travel through railway system per year with 155 kilometers of route, which is third longest railway route after Paris and it was build in 1927. Afterward, Paris has more number of passengers followed by Tokyo, which is nearly 1200 million travellers per year and it has almost 200 kilometers of railway route and the opening year of railway in Paris was 1900.

Furthermore, london is accounted for oldest railway system as well as it has longest railway route of 394 kilometers than all the cities, which was built in 1863 with 775 million passengers per year. Moreover, the subway in Kyoto and Los Angeles was built in 1981 and in 2001 respectively. Conversely, kyoto has the shortest railway route of 11 kilometers and Los Angeles has the route of 25 Kilometers. They both have a annual average of 48 million passengers. Lastly, the railway systems in Washington DC was built in 1976 with with 126 kilometers of route and it has nearly 150 millions travellers per year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by selecting and reporting the main features of the table, making relevant comparisons across the six cities. An overview is successfully provided, identifying London as the oldest and longest system, and Tokyo as having the highest passenger volume. However, some areas are under-developed or contain minor inaccuracies; for example, the statement that London is a 'country' instead of a city, and minor data misstatements such as claiming Los Angeles has a route of '25 Kilometers' when the table states 28, and giving an incorrect averaged passenger figure of '48 million'. The selection of data is generally relevant, but the lack of precise precision in data handling keeps the task response at this level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The report displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to group information logically, separating the overview from detailed body paragraphs. Paragraphing is utilised, though the body paragraphs become somewhat dense and slightly disjointed in their progression. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Furthermore', 'Moreover', and 'Conversely', but some linking is mechanical or slightly repetitive. Referencing can occasionally be unclear, such as pronoun usage in 'They both have a annual average', which slightly disrupts the smooth flow of information between sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying numerical data and transit features with terms like 'tabular chart', 'transit systems', and 'subway'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, but these are accompanied by word choice and word form errors, such as referring to London as a 'country', writing 'traveller' instead of 'travellers' or passengers, and spelling errors like 'build' instead of 'built'. Collocations are occasionally awkward, such as 'more number of passengers', but these lexical inaccuracies rarely impede overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and passive constructions such as 'which is third longest railway route after Paris and it was build in 1927'. There are some grammatical errors in punctuation, articles, and verb forms, including 'run a underground railway', 'an annual average', and tense inconsistencies. However, these errors are relatively infrequent and do not impede communication, meaning the reader can easily follow the intended meaning despite the presence of structural slips.

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