Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-12

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 table compares data regarding the underground rail networks in six different areas.

The first underground rail network was introduced in 1863, in London.This rail network had length of 394 kilometers. About 775 millions people travelled through this network in a year.In 1900,the second railway system was introduced in Paris.Its length was about 199 kilometers.This time the rate of passengers which used this system had increased to 1191 millions. The third underground railway system was introduced in Tokyo, in 1927. And this time the length reduced to 155 kilometers as compared to other two systems.But the rate of passengers per year was increased to 1927 millions.

On the other hand, when 4th railway system was introduced in Washington DC, in 1976 the use of underground railway system reduced to 144 millions. Its length also reduced to 126 kms.Now, the downfall of this system had started.The fifth system was introduced in Kyoto, in 1981 which was of length 11km only and rate of passengers decreased to 45 millions per year.The 6th underground system was established in Los Angles, in 2001 which had length of 28 kilometers and rate of paasengers was 50 millions.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You report figures for all six cities and include the opening dates, route lengths and annual passenger totals, so the response is relevant to the table. However, the main features are not clearly summarised: there is no overview identifying London as the oldest and longest network, Tokyo as the busiest, or Kyoto as the smallest and least used. Instead, most of the response lists cities one by one. Some comparisons are also inaccurate or unclear: Paris’s passenger figure is higher than London’s, but Tokyo’s is higher still; describing the figures as a general increase misses the later sharp differences. Focus on the most notable contrasts and state them accurately in an overview before giving selected details.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear chronological sequence, moving from London through Paris and Tokyo to the later systems, and the paragraph break separates the older and newer networks. Linking expressions such as “On the other hand” and “The fifth system” help readers follow the account. However, the organisation is mainly a city-by-city list rather than a comparison of the table’s key patterns. Some links are mechanical or do not express the relationship accurately: “On the other hand” does not establish a clear contrast, while “Now, the downfall of this system had started” interrupts the factual progression. Grouping the cities by notable features, and using an overview to guide the details, would make the progression more purposeful.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the basic information, including “underground rail network,” “length,” “passengers” and “introduced.” There is also some variation in how you refer to the systems. However, several choices are imprecise or unsuitable for a neutral data summary. “The downfall of this system” suggests decline over time, which the table does not show, and “rate of passengers” is not a natural way to describe annual totals. “Millions people” and “paasengers” also show errors in word form and spelling. Aim for precise reporting language and avoid dramatic interpretations; terms such as “annual passenger numbers,” “route length” and “recorded” would suit this task more naturally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including clauses beginning “when” and “which,” and the main information is generally understandable. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly with articles, plurals, sentence boundaries and punctuation. For example, “had length of 394 kilometers” needs an article, and “775 millions people” has an incorrect plural form. The sentence beginning “And this time” is an awkward fragment-like continuation, while missing spaces after full stops in “London.This” and “1990,the” affect punctuation control. Use complete sentences consistently, check articles and singular/plural forms, and punctuate each sentence boundary carefully.

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