Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

The table acknowledges about the underground train systems in six different cities.

Overall, Tokyo has recorded the most travellers in a year who took underground railway service. However, their kilometers of route were less comparative to London that has the highest figures and was one of the oldest station. Meanwhile, Kyoto has demonstrated the lowest figures for both passengers and route.

Tokyo undergorund railway station was opened in 1927 has the significant number of passengers in a year, accounting for 1927 million people. It had reported only 155 km of route, while London reported 394 km of route, which is the highest among other railways and was also the oldest station (1863). The second most highest travellers were from Paris that reported 1191 million individuals.

The lowest number of people belonged to Kyoto with 45 million people travelled only 11 kms of route. The latest underground railway among others was opened in Los Angeles (2001) and had only 50 million people travelled about 28 kms of route. Washington DC being capital of the USA had only 144 million people using underground railway service.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by presenting an overview of the underground railway systems across six cities, selecting key features, and making appropriate comparisons. The writing highlights major data points, such as Tokyo leading in passenger numbers despite a smaller route length compared to London, and identifies extremes like Kyoto and Los Angeles. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or lack full extension; for instance, the comparison between Tokyo and London touches on route length and passenger volume, but the analysis could be pushed further to fully secure the next higher level. Nevertheless, the main trends and data relationships are clearly reported, fulfilling the core requirements of this level with a clear overall summary.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The text demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression of ideas from an introductory overview into detailed body paragraphs grouping specific cities. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate general trends from specific statistical breakdowns. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'Overall', 'However', and 'Meanwhile', though referencing and transitions can occasionally feel a bit mechanical rather than entirely seamless. For example, the transition into the third paragraph feels slightly abrupt due to minor structural phrasing. Overall, the information is structured logically, ensuring that the reader can easily follow the comparisons made between the various urban railway systems.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to successfully communicate information about dates, distances, and passenger numbers. There are clear attempts to use less common vocabulary and comparative language, such as 'significant number', 'highest figures', and 'oldest station'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'acknowledges about' instead of 'provides information about', and 'most highest' which is a double superlative. Other minor slips like 'undergorund' occur, but these do not impede overall communication. To reach a higher standard, the writer needs to demonstrate more precision in lexical selection and eliminate unnatural phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and subordinate structures successfully in places, such as 'which is the highest among other railways'. There are, however, some noticeable errors in grammar and punctuation. Examples include 'Tokyo undergorund railway station was opened in 1927 has the significant number', which suffers from a missing relative pronoun and article issues, and 'less comparative to London' instead of 'compared to London'. Despite these errors, the structures used do not impede communication, and the meaning of the sentences remains clear throughout. Greater control over complex sentence construction and prepositions would elevate the grammatical performance.

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