Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-14

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 5.0)

Here table is given which provides guideline about railway system of six main counties including london, paris, tokyo, washington DC , kyoto and Los Angeles. The focused features in table includes opened date, distance in kilometers and number of passengers that are travelling per year (in millions).

Railway system in london is opened in year 1863 and it covers 394 kilometers of route. Moreover 775 millions of passengers travelled per year. In paris, railway system is opened in 1900 and it covers 199 kilometers and roundabout 1191 passengers travelled in this railway system. In tokyo, railway system is opened in 1927 and covers 155 kilometers and 1927 passengers travelled per year in this railway system.

In washington, raillway system is started in 1976 and its range is 126 kilometers and about 144 millions of passengers travelled per year. In kyoyo, railway system initialized in year 1981 and it covers only 11 kilometers of routes and about 45 millions of people travelled per year. In los angeles, this system is introduced in 2001 and covers 28 kilometers and 50 million people travelled per year. If we compare all countries that are mentioned , we conclude that kilometers of route are mnaximum in london and maximum number of passengers that are travelling by railway system are in tokyo (1927 millions of people).

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You report the opening dates, route lengths and annual passenger figures for all six systems, and your final comparison correctly identifies London as having the longest route and Tokyo as carrying the most passengers. However, the response mainly lists each city’s figures rather than selecting and highlighting the most important patterns. It does not clearly note, for example, that London is the oldest system while Los Angeles is the newest, or that the two shortest routes, Kyoto and Los Angeles, also have the lowest passenger totals. Some figures are also described imprecisely: the table gives passenger numbers in millions, but phrases such as “1191 passengers” omit that unit. A clearer overview and more purposeful comparisons would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: it introduces the table, groups London, Paris and Tokyo in one paragraph, then covers the remaining cities and ends with a comparison. This makes the information reasonably easy to follow. However, the organisation is largely a repeated city-by-city list, and links such as “Moreover” and “In” do little to show relationships between the figures. The concluding comparison is useful, but it could connect more of the data, such as contrasting the older, larger systems with the newer, shorter ones. Some punctuation spacing is also inconsistent, as in “mentioned ,” and “DC ,”. Grouping cities by a shared feature and using clearer comparative links would improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the basic information, including “route,” “kilometers,” “passengers” and “covers.” However, the range is limited and several expressions are repetitive or imprecise. “Railway system is opened” and “system is introduced” are not natural ways to describe the dates in the table; “opened” or “began operating” would be more suitable. “Roundabout 1191” is an awkward choice for a precise table figure, and “countries” incorrectly refers to the cities being compared. Spelling errors such as “raillway,” “kyoyo” and “mnaximum” also reduce accuracy. More precise comparison vocabulary and careful proofreading would strengthen the report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response uses mostly simple sentence patterns, with some attempts to combine information using “and” and “Moreover.” These structures generally allow the reader to understand the figures, but control is uneven. For example, “Railway system in london is opened in year 1863” has problems with the article, tense and sentence structure; “775 millions of passengers travelled per year” also has an incorrect plural form and an awkward tense choice. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including lowercase city names and spaces before commas. Aim to use accurate past-tense clauses for opening dates and concise present-tense descriptions of the table, while checking articles, number agreement and punctuation.

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