Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-29

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 5.5)

Transportation has been essential in our daily lives, we get to our destination mush faster without wasting any time and its types can be land, water and even air. They say that owning a private vehicle can make your everyday life easier, but I beg to disagree with that.

Due to inflation car prises are quickly rising up, its maintenance costs, accessories and even gasoline. The moment a buyer checks out a car from casa, its value already depreciates by 10%. Imagine losing money from the moment your car steps on the road, how terrible. I obviously get it, with the current transporation in the Philippines, many individuals opt for buying a car rather than commuting to work everyday.

With the current war tension in Middle East, gas prices are surging up resulting to inflation. One of the dilemma of buying a gasoline-powered car petrol price is upredictable, unless you buy a electric-powered car and use solar energy, and it can also be a problem because solar panels costs hundreds of thousands here. Traffic has been a headache for every commuter almost every day, but there is a huge difference between commuting and owning a private vehicle. After long tiring day, commuter may spend time in the public utility vehicle relaxing and not minding the traffic, but on the other side of the coin, you are tired and you are driving home it should be frustrating.

The impact mostly rely if an individual has his own car, he has the money to take care of it on a monthly basis. For other commuters who lives from paycheck to paycheck, having a personal car should not be considered if you are not finanicially ready.

Example here in the Philippines, living in a third world country and for you to have your own car? Parking spaces are required, month fees are always considered, accidents are unpredictable but things might happen. |omeone should work for more than a year in order to afford it. Being a commuter, I agree with that. Relying on private cars can cause more traffic, and the smoke, noise and pollution greatly affects our environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You take a clear overall position that reliance on private cars has more negative than positive effects, and you support it with relevant points about expense, fuel-price uncertainty, traffic, and pollution. The Philippine context also gives the response a useful, specific frame. However, the task asks broadly how car reliance affects the way people live, while much of the discussion focuses on the cost of owning a car. The contrast between commuting and driving is relevant but not fully explained, and the opening briefly mentions convenience without developing it. To strengthen the response, explain more directly how car use changes daily routines, access to work or services, and people’s independence, then support each main effect with a clear example. The position is present, but some ideas remain limited or unclear.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable paragraph structure, moving from an introduction to costs, fuel and traffic, affordability, and a concluding environmental point. Some linking phrases, such as “On the other side of the coin” and “For other commuters,” help signal contrasts. However, the overall progression is not consistently clear: the paragraph beginning “With the current war tension” combines fuel prices, solar panels, traffic, and the experience of driving, so several distinct ideas compete for attention. The final paragraph also shifts from affordability to parking, accidents, and pollution without clearly connecting them. Use one central point per paragraph, order the points from personal effects to wider social effects, and make references such as “that” and “it” explicit to improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “maintenance costs,” “depreciates,” “gas prices,” “parking spaces,” and “pollution.” Phrases such as “on the other side of the coin” show an attempt to vary expression. However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors sometimes make the meaning less clear, including “car prises,” “transporation,” “upredictable,” and “finanicially.” Some combinations are also unnatural, such as “prices are surging up” and “month fees.” Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully; for example, use “fuel prices are rising” and “monthly fees.” More precise vocabulary for the effects on daily life, such as “commuting time” or “financial burden,” would also help you express ideas more flexibly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, including conditional and contrastive structures, as in “unless you buy a electric-powered car” and “After long tiring day, commuter may spend time…”. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors in agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries can make the reader pause. For example, “Transportation has been essential in our daily lives, we get to our destination…” joins two independent clauses with only a comma. In “One of the dilemma…,” the noun should be plural after “one of,” while “solar panels costs” has a subject–verb agreement problem. Review articles and singular/plural agreement, and divide long or joined clauses into complete sentences. This will make your range of structures clearer and more reliable.

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