Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-24

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 shows information about the underground railway systems in six different cities, including London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC,Kyoto and Los Angeles.

It is observed that firstly, London has the oldest and longest underground railway system, While Tokyo has the highest number of passengers every year.Kyoto has the shortest railway system and the lowest number of passengers.

As can be seen frome the table London underground railway opened in 1863, making it the oldest system in the table. it has 394 kilometres of railway and carries 775 million passeners annually. Paris opened its railway in 1900 and has 199 kilometres of routes, with 1,191 million passengers per year.

secondly, Tokyo underground railway opened in 1927. it has 155 kilometrs of routes and carries 1927, million passngers every year, which is the highest number among the six cities.

finally, Washington DC opened its system in 1976 and carries 144 million passengers annually.

Kyoto has only 11 kilometres of railway and 45 million passengers.

Los Angeles opened its underground railway in 2001 and arries 50 million passengers each year.

in short, the older railway systems generally have longer routes and more passengers than the newer systwms.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main features clearly: London is the oldest and longest system, Tokyo carries the most passengers, and Kyoto has the shortest route and lowest passenger total. You also report figures for all six cities, so the response addresses the task and includes relevant comparisons. However, some details are less fully developed: Washington DC is mentioned only for its opening date and passenger figure, while its 126-kilometre route is omitted. The final claim that older systems generally have longer routes and more passengers is too broad, since Tokyo has the highest passenger total despite not having the longest route. A more precise overview and fuller comparison of all three measures would strengthen the summary. The length requirement is met; eight words copied from the task prompt were not counted.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure, moving from an introduction and overview to details about the cities, and the reader can generally follow the information. However, progression is uneven: the overview is followed by London and Paris, then a separate “secondly” paragraph for Tokyo, and “finally” introduces Washington DC before Kyoto and Los Angeles are added without a clear grouping. These sequencing signals do not consistently show how the data relate. The final “in short” sentence provides a conclusion, but its generalisation does not neatly summarise the comparisons. Organise the body into logical groups—for example, older systems and newer systems—and use linking phrases to compare route length and passenger numbers directly.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the data, including “underground railway system,” “kilometres of routes,” and “annually.” However, the range is limited and some wording is repetitive, particularly repeated uses of “opened,” “has,” and “carries.” There are also noticeable spelling errors, such as “passeners,” “kilometrs,” “passngers,” “frome,” and “systwms,” which reduce the accuracy and polish of the report. Some expressions are imprecise: “number of passengers every year” could be expressed more concisely as annual passenger numbers, and “oldest and longest” would be clearer as the system that opened earliest and has the greatest route length. Varying reporting verbs and checking spelling would improve precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use a mixture of simple sentences and some longer structures, such as “making it the oldest system in the table” and the clause beginning “which is the highest number.” Most of the data remain understandable, but errors in sentence boundaries, capitalisation, and punctuation occur throughout. For example, “While” is incorrectly capitalised after a comma, “every year.Kyoto” lacks a space after the full stop, and “secondly” and “in short” begin sentences without capital letters. The final sentence also uses a broad comparative structure that is not carefully qualified. Aim for consistently complete sentences, accurate punctuation, and a few controlled complex comparisons, such as contrasting Tokyo’s passenger total with London’s route length.

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

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