Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-20

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)

There are information about the underground railway systems in six cities.These six cities are Landon,Paris,Tokyo,washington,DC,Los Angeles.Thair opened dates are also given .The opened date of landon is 1863.Underground Railway System in Paris was opened in 1900 after Londan underground Railway system.

In Tokyo the Underground system was opened in 1927 and in Washington city the underground system was opened in 1976.After these citis the Under ground System was opened in kyoto city in 1980.From these all six cities the Undergroundv saystem was opened in Los Angles at last in 2001.There arew different kilometers of rout in these different six cities .In Laondon there are 394 kilometer route.In other cities like Paris,Tokyo,Washington DC,kyto and in Los Angles, there are different rout 199,155,126,11,28 respectively.The passengres are there about millions .In Landon ,Paris,Tokyo,Washington,DC,Kyoto and in Los angles peoples are 775,1191,1927,144,45 ,and 50 respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response3.5
Coherence and Cohesion4.5
Lexical Resource4.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.5
Overall4.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

You include information from all three table categories and identify the opening dates, route lengths and passenger figures for the six cities. However, the response mainly lists data rather than selecting and highlighting the main features: for example, it does not point out that London has the longest route, while Tokyo carries the most passengers, or compare the oldest and newest systems. There is also an inaccurate date: Kyoto opened in 1981, not 1980. The response contains 132 words, below the required 150; the nine words copied from the prompt are not counted. Add a concise overview and develop the most important comparisons to address the task more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The information is presented in a broadly understandable order, moving from opening dates to route lengths and then passenger numbers. Phrases such as “after London” and “respectively” also help connect some details. However, the response is one continuous block, with no clear paragraphing or overview to guide the reader. Repeated openings such as “In Tokyo,” “In Washington city,” and “In London” make the progression feel list-like, and the sequence of cities is not consistently organised. Grouping the information into an introduction and overview, followed by comparisons of older/larger systems and smaller/newer ones, would create clearer progression and more effective cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “underground railway systems,” “kilometers of route,” “opened,” and “passengers,” so the reader can generally identify the subject of each figure. However, the range is limited and several word-choice and spelling problems reduce precision, including “opened dates,” “different kilometers of rout,” “peoples,” and repeated misspellings of city names such as “Landon” and “kyto.” “There are different” is also repeated without explaining the differences. Use accurate table-related terms and vary your comparisons, for example by describing a system as the longest or busiest. Careful proofreading of spelling and more precise collocations would make the data easier to interpret.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response uses mostly simple sentence patterns, with a few attempts to link information, such as “In Tokyo … and in Washington city …”. Meaning is usually recoverable, but errors occur in basic sentence construction and agreement. For example, “There are information” should be “There is information,” and “The opened date of landon is 1863” would be more naturally formed as “London’s system opened in 1863.” The sentence beginning “The passengers are there about millions” is also difficult to understand grammatically. Punctuation and spacing are inconsistent, particularly around city names and full stops. Practise accurate simple comparisons first, then combine related facts using controlled clauses.

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