The table below gives information about the underground railway systems in six cities.
Sample Response
The supplied table gives data on the underground railway systemson underground railway system in six metropolitan cities, namelycities namely: London, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, Kyoto and Los Angeles. As is observed, London railway system is the oldest of the sixthe oldest among six and has the longest rail route and the most recent railway system in Los Angeles having a small route and fewer passengers using the railway system each year.
London’s railway system openedLondon railway system was opened in 1863 and has a 394-kilometre routehas a total of 394 km. route. Paris’sParis railway system opened in 1900was started in 1900 and has a 199-kilometre routehas 199 km. route but has far more passengersa far larger passenger (1191 million per year) than London’s systemthe London railway (775 million passengers per year). Again, Tokyo railway has the largest passengers using the system and this railway station was started in the year 1927.
Two most recent railway stations are Kyoto and Los Angeles those started in the year 1981 and 2001 consecutively and have 11 and 28 km. of routes only. The 11-kilometre route11 km. route of Kyoto railway systemstation is the smallest route among the six systemsthe mentioned six cities.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response is strongest in its clear overview of the oldest, longest, newest, and smallest systems, supported by several accurate comparisons. Its main limitation is incomplete coverage: Washington DC is omitted, and key figures for Tokyo and Los Angeles are not reported. The highest priority is to organize the six cities into meaningful groups and include enough comparative data to represent every system without sacrificing accuracy.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview identifies important extremes and most stated figures are accurate, but one city and several key route or passenger values are omitted.
Cover all six systems and compare both route length and passenger volume, especially including Washington DC and Tokyo's leading passenger total.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is arranged in a generally logical sequence with a clear overview, though progression relies on a limited set of links and some awkward references.
Organize the details explicitly into older, larger systems and newer, smaller systems, with direct comparative links between them.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficient for describing the table, but repetition and imprecise phrases such as larger passenger and railway station limit flexibility.
Use precise terms such as passenger numbers, annual ridership, route length, and system rather than repeatedly using railway or station.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of sentence structures is attempted and meaning remains clear, but article, agreement, punctuation, and relative-clause errors recur.
Check noun phrases and relative clauses, particularly forms such as the London system, the six cities, and systems that opened.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The table below gives information about the underground railway systems in six cities.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.