Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-07

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 following chart illustrate the detalis about six different underground of six different countries.

Overall, we can see that London has the oldest and longest underground railway system, it was etablished in 1863 and it's kilometer of route is 394. However, Los Angeles railway station, which was built in 2001, remains the newest station.

As we can see, London railway station is the oldest and round 775 million passengers per year use London railways station for transportation. Paris railway station, was constructed in 1900. It is 199 kilometers long. Whereas, 1191 million passengers use Paris unerground railway system. Furthermore, Tokyo railway station was developed in 1927. Tokyo underground railway system covers 155 kilometers of route. Meanwhile, Tokyo railway system is udef by approximately 1927 million passengers per year, which is counted as the highest among all of the systems. Washington DC railway station was set up in 1976 and the total lenght of route covered by Washington DC railway station is 126 kilometers. Roughly 144 millions passenger per years travel from Washington Dc railway station. Kyoto and Los Angeles railway station were erected in 1981 and 2001 repectively. Compared with other system, Kyoto railway station accomodate 45 million passenger, where as Los Angeles railway station accomodate around 50 millon passengers per year. The Kyoto underground railway station streches for approximately 11 kilometers, where the Los Angeles underground railway station is about 28 kilometers in length.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You cover all six cities and report the three main measures: opening date, route length and annual passenger numbers. The overview identifies London as the oldest and longest system and Los Angeles as the newest, while the body also correctly highlights Tokyo’s highest passenger figure and Kyoto’s shortest route. These are relevant comparisons and give the response a clear summary of the table. Some details are less fully handled: the overview could also identify Tokyo as the busiest system and contrast the much lower figures for Kyoto and Los Angeles. Be precise that the data describe underground railway systems, rather than repeatedly calling them “railway stations,” which can suggest individual stations rather than networks.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, an overview and a body that moves through the cities. Linking expressions such as “Furthermore,” “Meanwhile” and “Compared with” help signal additions and contrasts. However, the body largely lists each city in sequence, so comparisons between the systems are not consistently developed. Some transitions feel mechanical, and the repeated opening “As we can see” adds little. The long final sentence also combines the Kyoto and Los Angeles comparisons in a way that makes the contrast less clear. Grouping the older, larger systems together and then comparing the newer, smaller ones would create a more purposeful progression and clearer cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “covers,” “constructed,” “approximately” and “in length,” and the main information remains understandable. However, several choices are inaccurate or repetitive. “Railway station” is used for an entire underground network, while “developed,” “set up” and “erected” are not natural choices for describing when a system opened. There are also spelling errors such as “detalis,” “unerground,” “lenght” and “accomodate,” alongside repeated use of “passengers per year.” Use precise terms such as “system,” “network,” “opened” and “annual ridership,” and check spelling carefully to make the vocabulary more controlled and appropriate to a data report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “Los Angeles railway station, which was built in 2001,” and a contrast using “whereas.” The main figures and relationships are generally understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “The following chart illustrate” has subject–verb disagreement, and “Paris railway station, was constructed in 1900” has an unnecessary comma and lacks a clear sentence structure. The sentence beginning “Overall” joins two independent clauses with a comma. There are also issues with articles, plurals and agreement, as in “144 millions passenger” and “the total length … is.” Review sentence boundaries and check each subject–verb pairing and noun form.

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