Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-13

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 demonstrates the information about the underground railway system in six different cities including London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto, and Los Angeles. The table has the records of opening date, route in KM and number of pessengers in millions travels per year.

London has the most oldest system among all cities which was opened in 1863, along with Paris where the system launched in 1900. Tokyo, Washington DC, and kyoto opened their train paths in twentieth century; however, LA has the most recent railway system which opened in 2001.

Despite the oldest construction, London has the longest route among all which is 394 KM, Paris is on the second but still almost half of London's railway length which is 199 KM. Tokyo, and Washington DC are closeby with 155 KM and 126 KM respectively. Kyoto has the shortest underground railway system with just 11 KM, along with LA with 28 KM.

Tokyo has the highest number of pessengers per year with 1927 million, Paris is at the second with 1191 million travellers. London has 775 million passengers per year and washington DC has 144 million. Kyoto has lowest numbers with 45 million only, along with LA who has 50 million.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main comparisons across opening dates, route lengths and annual passenger numbers, and the key extremes are generally clear: London has the oldest and longest system, while Tokyo carries the most passengers. However, the overview is not stated distinctly, and some comparisons are incomplete or imprecise. For example, the opening-date paragraph groups Tokyo, Washington DC and Kyoto together without giving their dates, and the route paragraph says Paris is “almost half” of London’s length without clearly reporting the comparison. The passenger figures are mostly covered, but the final comparison could be expressed more precisely. A concise overview of the oldest/largest network and the busiest system, followed by accurate, selective comparisons, would make the summary more complete and developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is organised into a clear introduction and three body paragraphs, each focusing on a different aspect of the table. This gives the information a generally logical progression, and linking expressions such as “Despite” and “however” help signal contrasts. The comparisons within the route and passenger paragraphs are also easy to follow. To make the organisation more flexible and cohesive, avoid relying on repeated “along with” constructions, which sometimes leave the relationship between figures unclear. For instance, Kyoto and Los Angeles are grouped together despite having different route lengths and passenger totals. More precise links such as “by contrast” or “whereas,” and a distinct overview before the details, would strengthen the progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary for describing the table, including “longest route,” “most recent,” “shortest” and “highest number.” These choices communicate the main comparisons, but several word-choice, collocation and spelling problems limit precision. “Most oldest” is an incorrect form, “closeby” is not suitable in this context, and “pessengers” is misspelled repeatedly. “Train paths” and “railway length” are also less natural than standard terms for this data. Aim for accurate, consistent expressions such as “underground network,” “route length” and “annual passenger numbers.” Greater control of these common task-specific phrases would make the report clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple sentences and more complex forms, including clauses introduced by “which” and contrast structures with “however” and “Despite.” Most of the information remains understandable, but some grammatical errors occur. For example, “London has the most oldest system” has an incorrect superlative construction, while “the number of … travels per year” does not form a clear grammatical phrase. In “Tokyo, Washington DC, and kyoto opened their train paths,” the subject is the cities rather than the systems, making the sentence structure awkward. There are also inconsistent capital letters in “kyoto” and “washington DC.” Check article use, sentence subjects and parallel phrasing when revising.

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