Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-17

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 table compares six cities in termsof the opening dates, route lengths and annual passenger numbers of their underground railway systems.

overall, London has the oldest and longest underground railway system,whereas Los Angeles has the newest.However, Tokyo carries the highest number of passengers annually,while kyoto has the shortest network and the lowest passenger figure.

London has underground railway system opened in 1863 and has a route length of 394 kilometres making it the longest among the six cities.it carries 775 million passengers annually.Paris opened its system in 1900 with a network of 199 kilometres and 1,191 million passengers per year.Tokyo has railway system began operating in 1927.although its route is only 155 kilometres long, it carries the highest number of passengers , at 1927 million annually

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the main contrasts accurately in the overview: London is the oldest and longest-running system, Los Angeles is the newest, and Tokyo has the most passengers while Kyoto has the fewest. The figures you report for London, Paris and Tokyo are also correct. However, the response covers only three of the six cities, leaving out Washington DC, Kyoto’s route length and Los Angeles’s passenger total. This makes the summary partial, and the comparisons are not developed across the full table. The response also falls short of the required 150 words. To strengthen the report, include the missing cities and compare the smaller systems with the larger ones, using the key figures selectively.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview and a paragraph with supporting figures. The overview helps the reader understand the main patterns before the details, and linking words such as “whereas,” “however” and “although” show an attempt to connect comparisons. However, the final paragraph stops after Tokyo, so the information is not organised into a complete account of all six cities. Some links are also crowded together, and missing spaces after full stops make the progression harder to follow, as in “cities.it carries” and “annually.Paris.” Grouping the older, larger systems separately from the newer, smaller ones would create clearer progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing the table, including “route length,” “network,” “annually” and “passengers,” and these terms generally communicate the intended information. There is some variation in how you refer to the systems, which helps avoid excessive repetition. However, several expressions are imprecise or awkward, such as “in termsof” and “has underground railway system opened,” and the phrase “passenger figure” could be more specific. Capitalisation and spacing errors, including “kyoto” and “termsof,” also reduce accuracy. Aim for natural collocations such as “the system opened in” and “carried X million passengers per year,” and check spelling and spacing carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences. For example, the overview uses a clear contrast with “whereas,” and the Tokyo sentence includes a concessive clause beginning “although.” These structures are appropriate for comparing data. However, errors in sentence construction and punctuation recur: “London has underground railway system opened in 1863” lacks a clear grammatical link, while “Tokyo has railway system began operating” combines incompatible verb structures. The sentence beginning “although” also needs a capital letter after the full stop, and several sentences run together because spaces are missing after punctuation. Practise accurate article use and verb patterns, and proofread sentence boundaries.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.