Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-19

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 4.5)

The table shows recorded information about the underground railway systems in six cities.

Overall, the table represents data when the staton opened, how far it travelled and how many passengers travelled in it per year. From the data, it is clear that London railway travelled the highest kilometers and Tokyo had the highest number of passengers.

In london, the railway opened in 18sixty3. 394 kilometers of route done and 77five passengers travelled per year. Pris railway station opened in 1900. 199 kilometers route was covered and 1191 passengers were headed. Tokyo station was openend in 1927. 1 kilometers was travelled and was loaded with 1927 passengers. Over the years, in different cities like Washington, Koyoto and Los Angeles, the dates when railway systems were opened : 197six, 1981 and 2001. 12six, 11 and 28 kilometers of route was covered and passengers ratio was slowed over the years with the value of 144, 4five and fifty.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify the table’s subject and give a relevant overview, correctly noting that London has the longest route and Tokyo the most passengers. However, the report is incomplete and several figures are inaccurate or unclear: Tokyo’s route is given as “1 kilometers” instead of 155, and the passenger figures are rendered as “77five,” “4five” and “fifty.” The comparison of the six systems is therefore only minimally conveyed, and some details are difficult to interpret. The response also contains 146 words, below the required 150; the nine words copied from the task prompt are excluded from that count. To improve, report the figures accurately, compare the oldest and newest systems, and include a clear overview of both route length and passenger use.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and details about the cities. The overview helps the reader identify two key features, and phrases such as “In London” and “Over the years” signal movement between information. However, the final paragraph groups Washington, Kyoto and Los Angeles together in a way that makes their individual figures hard to follow. The sequence also shifts from city to city without a consistent comparison, while “Over the years” does not clearly explain the relationship between the figures. Use separate, logically grouped sentences—for example, older systems first and newer systems second—and connect each city clearly to its date, route length and passenger total.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “underground railway systems,” “route” and “passengers,” and the overview communicates the broad comparison. However, vocabulary is repetitive and several choices are inaccurate or unnatural for describing a table. “How far it travelled” and “passengers travelled in it” are imprecise, while “passengers were headed” and “passengers ratio was slowed” do not express the intended data clearly. The written forms “18sixty3,” “77five” and “4five” also make key figures difficult to understand. Use standard numerals and precise reporting language such as “the route extended to” and “carried X million passengers annually.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response includes simple sentences and an attempt at a more complex overview, such as “From the data, it is clear that…”. However, sentence patterns are limited, and errors in verb forms, articles and sentence construction recur. For example, “394 kilometers of route done” lacks a finite verb, and “Tokyo station was openend” has an incorrect verb form. In “the dates when railway systems were opened : 197six…,” the colon is used awkwardly and the sentence structure is incomplete. These problems sometimes make relationships between the data unclear. Practise complete comparative sentences with accurate past-tense forms, such as “London’s system opened in 1863 and has the longest route, at 394 kilometres.”

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

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