Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-19

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many parts of the world, people rely on private cars for transportation.

In what ways does reliance on private cars affect the way we live?

Do the effects tend to be positive or negative?

Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.5)

People from various regions of the world depends on personal cars for commuting. This trend have direct impact on the daily commuters and provides them independence and comfort. However, relying purely on private vehicles can have more negative side as they give rise to pollution and traffic congestion.

Using a private car for work and travelling give you freedom, since you can leave your residence according to your own time and do not need to waste time waiting for public transport. Consequently, if one's planning a trip to a distant location, they do need to worry about the ride. For instance, when I travelled to whistler, which is around 4 hours drive from my home, if I had not have my own car, I had to take multiple buses to reach my destination.In contrast, the rise in number of cars on the road create traffic congestion for urban dwellers and also give rise to air pollution, which can lead several health problems like asthama.

The affects are more negative than being positive. The reason behind postive part is the comfort and time management. If planned properly one can utilise the time that they saved from commuting by spending it with their loved one. Whereas, for city people it cause road blockages and ruins the quality of air due to constant idling of vehicle stuck in traffic. Also, increased number of vehicle on the road gives rise to accidents, due to impatient driving. For example, a person stuck in traffic for a long time tends to become anxious and can make unnecessary decisions like breaking lanes that could lead to unfortunate events.

In conclusion, relying on personal mode of transportation can help in managing time and get independent, but can have bad effect on the society, as it gives rise to pollution and traffic congestion.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing how reliance on private cars affects our way of living and explicitly evaluating whether these effects are positive or negative. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. Ideas are extended and supported, such as when the student explains the flexibility of time management and gives an example of travelling to Whistler. However, some arguments tend to generalise or repeat points between paragraphs, such as the mention of traffic congestion and pollution appearing in multiple places. This places the response firmly within Band 7, as all parts of the task are addressed with a clear position, but development could be more fully varied to reach higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Information and ideas are divided into appropriate paragraphs, starting with an introduction, followed by body paragraphs discussing personal benefits and negative consequences, and a final conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Consequently', 'For instance', and 'In contrast' are used to connect ideas, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is utilised sufficiently, and referencing is mostly clear. The progression of ideas makes the essay easy to follow, aligning well with the Band 7 descriptors for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'urban dwellers', 'constant idling', and 'independent'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'depends on personal cars' (subject-verb agreement error with 'people'), 'give rise to pollution' (used repeatedly), and 'get independent' instead of 'gain independence'. Spelling errors also occur, such as 'postive' and 'asthama'. These lexical slips and occasional inaccuracies keep the score at a Band 6, as the vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the message clearly despite errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. There are instances of effective complex structures, such as conditional and relative clauses. However, grammatical errors are frequent throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'This trend have direct impact', tense inconsistencies such as 'if I had not have my own car, I had to take', and missing articles. While these errors do not seriously impede communication, they persist across the essay and prevent the writing from achieving a higher band score, placing it securely at Band 6.

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