Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-05

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In the future all cars, buses and trucks will be driverless. The only people travelling inside these vehicles will be passengers.

Do you think the advantages of driverless vehicles outweigh the disadvantages?

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

Student answer (Band 5.0)

Many people say that in the future, all road vehicles, including buses, trucks and cars will become driverless and humans will only be the passengers.

The idea of driverless cars is not new, we have been hearing about it for the past several years, and now I think that the time is coming near.

When I was a kid since that time the cars were evolving very rapidly and we used to think of this only in our dreams, but now I see this coming true in the near future.

For centuries, humans have operated these vehicles and machines themselves, and the idea of driverless vehicles is quite revolutionary. Humans are good, but they are disadvantageous in many circumstances because they become influenced by their emotions very easily ruin many circumstances. For example during last year when I was going to visit my grandparents on my way I saw a reckless trucker who hit a parked car on the side, the truck almost crushed the car completely. Luckily, there was no one in the car but it was so horrific to watch. Afterwards I always had a sense of fear in me while driving. After seeing such cases I completely agree that driving should become totally driverless because the computers that would be operating the cars would always obey the rules that we would feed to them and the risk of crashing would be minimal.

However there are also many limitations in case of driverless vehicles such as they can be hacked, and if that happens these vehicles could be used for serious crimes and there would also be no evidence of the crminal.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of driverless vehicles. However, the development is uneven. While the argument regarding human error is supported by a personal anecdote, the section on disadvantages is extremely brief and lacks sufficient depth or examples. The conclusion is entirely missing, which is a significant omission for an essay of this type. To reach a higher band, you must ensure that both sides of the argument are explored with equal weight and include a clear introduction and a concluding summary that restates your position.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay lacks a clear structure. There is no clear paragraphing to separate the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. The flow of ideas is somewhat disjointed, particularly in the transition between the personal anecdote and the discussion of disadvantages. While some cohesive devices are used, such as 'However' and 'For example', the overall progression is weak due to the lack of clear paragraph breaks and a formal structure. Improving your paragraphing and using a wider range of linking words would significantly enhance the logical flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. You use some repetitive phrasing, such as 'driverless vehicles' and 'humans'. There are also minor errors in word choice, such as 'disadvantageous in many circumstances' and 'ruin many circumstances', which sound unnatural. To improve, try to incorporate more sophisticated synonyms and collocations related to technology and transportation. For example, instead of 'ruin', you could use 'contribute to' or 'exacerbate'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include 'When I was a kid since that time the cars were evolving' (redundant phrasing) and 'there would also be no evidence of the crminal' (spelling error). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with several run-on sentences that lack proper commas or conjunctions. To achieve a higher score, focus on reducing these errors by proofreading your work and practicing the correct use of complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses and conditional sentences.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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