Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-11-05

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 rendered table depicts information about the underground railways systems in six different citites.

Overall, the highest number of passengers use Tokyo railway system, whereas the usage of Kyoto railway systems was the lowest.

In detail, the maximum number of travellers travelled by Paris and Tokyo railway system at 2000 million and it was built in 1900 and 1927 with 199 and 155 kilometers distance to city . In 1863 the underground railway facilties was opened in London which coverd 394 kilometers of route to city and 775 million travellers use these systems.

In case of Kyoto and Los Angeles, only 45 and 50 million passengers travel by these railways it had covered 30 kilometers of route to travel the city and it was opened in 1981 and 2001. Washington Dc railway systems was constructed in 1976 which covered just 126 kilometers distance to city. 144 million travellers traveled by these systems.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the broad pattern that Tokyo has the most passengers and Kyoto the fewest, and you include information about all six cities. However, the overview is incomplete and some key comparisons are inaccurate or unclear. The statement that Paris and Tokyo each had “2000 million” passengers is incorrect: Paris recorded 1,191 million, while Tokyo recorded 1,927 million. The route length of 30 kilometres is also assigned to Kyoto and Los Angeles together, although their figures are 11 and 28 kilometres respectively. London’s longest route is mentioned, but the response does not clearly compare the systems’ opening dates or route lengths overall. Select the most important contrasts and report each figure accurately to make the summary more complete and reliable.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic structure: an introduction, an overview, and two detail sections. Phrases such as “Overall,” “In detail,” and “In case of” help signal movement between points, and the cities are grouped to some extent. However, the progression is not consistently clear: Paris and Tokyo are combined with an inaccurate shared passenger figure, while Kyoto and Los Angeles are grouped under a route length that does not match either city. The final Washington sentence is added separately rather than integrated into a clear comparison. Organise the details by a meaningful pattern—for example, oldest and longest systems first, followed by the newer, shorter ones—and use clear references so each statistic is unmistakably linked to its city.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable set of task-related terms, including “passengers,” “route,” “opened,” and “constructed,” so the subject is generally understandable. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or repetitive, such as “travellers travelled by” and “distance to city,” which make the data harder to interpret. There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “citites,” “facilties,” and “coverd,” and the phrase “rendered table” is not a natural way to introduce the visual. Aim for precise, conventional language for describing data: use “carried” or “served” for passenger numbers and “route length” for distance. Check spelling carefully and avoid repeating “railway systems” when a clear pronoun or city name would be more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “which covered just 126 kilometres.” However, control is inconsistent, and frequent errors affect clarity. For example, “the highest number of passengers use Tokyo railway system” has a tense and article problem, while “the underground railway facilities was opened” has subject–verb disagreement. The sentence beginning “In detail” also has an unclear structure, and “it had covered” does not clearly refer to the intended system. Several sentences join multiple facts without clear grammatical links. Practise accurate past-tense reporting, singular and plural agreement, and articles before singular countable nouns; then separate complex data statements into clear, controlled sentences.

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