Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · 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 4.5)

ACCORDING TO IN THIS TABLE THE TAKE BELOW GIVES INFORMATION ABOUT THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEMS IN SIX CITIES.

IN LONDON CITY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEMS OPENED DATE IN 1863 AND THE KILOMETERS OF ROUTE IS 394 AND THE PASSENGERS PER YEAR (IN MILLIONS) IS 775.

IN PARIS CITY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEMS OPENED DATE IN 1900 AND THE KILOMETERS OF ROUTE IS 199 AND THE PASSENGERS PER YEAR (IN MILLIONS) IS 1191.

IN TOKYO CITY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEMS OPENED DATE IN 1927 AND THE KILOMETERS OF ROUTE IS 155 AND THE PASSENGERS PER YEAR (IN MILLIONS) IS 1927.

IN WASINGTON DC CITY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEMS OPENED DATE IN 1976 AND THE KILOMETERS OF ROUTE IS 126 AND THE PASSENGERS PER YEAR (IN MILLIONS) IS 144.

IN KYOTO CITY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEMS OPENED DATE IN 1981 AND THE KILOMETERS OF ROUTE IS 11 AND THE PASSENGERS PER YEAR (IN MILLIONS) IS 45.

IN LOS ANGELES CITY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEMS OPENED DATE IN 2001 AND THE KILOMETERS OF ROUTE IS 28 AND THE PASSENGERS PER YEAR (IN MILLIONS) IS 50.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You include the figures for all six cities, so the reader can identify each system’s opening date, route length and annual passenger total. However, the response mainly repeats the table row by row and does not summarise its main features or make comparisons. For example, it does not point out that London is the oldest and has the longest route, while Tokyo carries the most passengers; nor does it compare the much smaller systems in Kyoto and Los Angeles. The opening sentence simply restates the task rather than giving an overview. The 13 words copied from the task prompt were not counted. To improve, select the most notable contrasts and present them in a concise overview supported by key figures.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

The information is presented in a consistent city-by-city sequence, and each entry follows the same order of date, route length and passenger numbers. This makes individual figures relatively easy to locate. However, the response has no paragraphing or clear progression from an overview to supporting details, and the repeated sentence pattern makes the organisation mechanical. Each city is introduced with the same construction, such as “IN PARIS CITY” and “IN TOKYO CITY,” without links that show similarities or contrasts between systems. Grouping the older, larger networks together and then comparing the newer, smaller ones would create a clearer structure. Use an overview paragraph followed by one or two logically organised comparison paragraphs.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses basic vocabulary relevant to the table, including “opened,” “kilometers of route” and “passengers per year,” and the figures are generally identifiable. However, the vocabulary is highly repetitive and relies on copied table labels rather than a range of reporting language. Phrases such as “opened date” and “the kilometers of route is” are awkward, while “IN WASINGTON DC CITY” also contains a spelling error in the city name. More precise alternatives such as “began operating,” “route length” and “annual ridership” would help describe the data naturally. You could also use comparison vocabulary such as “longest,” “highest,” “whereas” and “by contrast” to report the main patterns rather than listing each entry.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response communicates the figures through repeated simple sentence patterns, but it shows very little grammatical range. Several constructions are inaccurate, including “IN LONDON CITY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SYSTEMS OPENED DATE IN 1863” and “THE KILOMETERS OF ROUTE IS 394.” These need clearer sentence structures, for example, “London’s underground system opened in 1863 and has a route length of 394 kilometres.” There are also agreement problems: plural “systems” is paired with singular “is,” and the repeated all-capital presentation makes punctuation and sentence boundaries difficult to see. Practise combining related facts with accurate clauses and vary sentence forms to make comparisons. Careful control of articles, possessives and subject–verb agreement would make the information easier to read.

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