Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · 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 4.0)

the randered tabular representation depict the information pertaning to the make underground railway station in differnt six cities

in an overview,it evident that the highest railway station build in tokyo city while the lowest witnessed in kyoto city over the period mentiond .

to commence with,thre railway station build in tokyo was 155 kilometer route and 1927 millions pasenngers. paris in 1900 was seen 199 and 1191 in kilomater route and millons passenger respectively . in london

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The response identifies the topic and attempts an overview by noting Tokyo and Kyoto, then gives some figures for Tokyo and Paris. However, the overview is inaccurate: Tokyo has the highest annual passenger total, not the highest number of stations, and Kyoto has the shortest route, rather than the fewest stations. Most of the six cities are not reported, and London’s entry is left unfinished, so the key features and comparisons are largely missing. The response also falls 73 words short of the required minimum, leaving too little space to summarise the table adequately. To improve, report all three measures accurately, highlight the oldest/largest system and the busiest system, and compare the smaller networks with relevant figures.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an opening sentence is followed by an overview and then a detail sentence beginning “to commence with.” This gives the reader some indication of the intended progression. However, the ideas are not developed into a complete, coherent summary. The overview is difficult to interpret, the figures for Tokyo and Paris are compressed into one sentence, and the final phrase “in london” is unfinished. The transition “to commence with” does not lead to a clear sequence of comparisons, and there are no paragraphs to separate the overview from the details. Use a clear introduction, a concise overview, and two organised detail paragraphs grouping cities by size or passenger numbers.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.0

The response attempts some task-related vocabulary, including “tabular representation,” “overview,” “kilometer route,” and “passengers,” so the subject is recognisable. However, spelling and word-choice errors are frequent and sometimes make the intended meaning unclear: “randered,” “pertaning,” “differnt,” and “pasenngers” are examples. Some phrases are also unsuitable or imprecise for describing the table, such as “railway station build” and “highest railway station.” Prefer accurate terms such as “underground railway system,” “route length,” and “annual passenger numbers.” Careful spelling and natural collocations would make the limited information much easier to understand.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

The response makes a basic attempt to form an overview and a longer sentence comparing figures, but grammatical control is weak and the sentence structures are very limited. For example, “it evident that” is missing the verb “is,” while “the highest railway station build in tokyo city” lacks a clear grammatical structure. The sentence beginning “paris in 1900 was seen” does not clearly express what the figures represent, and the final “in london” is an incomplete fragment. Capitalisation and punctuation are also inconsistent, with sentence openings and city names left in lowercase. Build complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and use patterns such as “Tokyo’s system carried…” or “London had the longest route.”

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