Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-08

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 5.5)

According to some, all vehicles will be driverless in the near future while they contain only passengers. In my opinion, the disadvantages of this view su are poor internet connection and network glitch outweigh its advantages.

One of the major demerits of this view is poor internet connection. This problem could pose a threat to the lives of passengers. Driverless cars are advanced technology, and requires strong and stable internet connection to function optimally; however in the absence of these, the vehicle might lock itself in the middle of nowhere, consequently endangering the lives of individuals entrusted to it. For instance, people in countrysides might find it difficult to utilize this type of technology as their netwok system might not support it. To salvage this, Government should join forces with the company to provide quality masks along the routes of the driverless vehicles.

Another significant issue is network glitch. Just as every other technology, there could be a glitch in their database, preventing them from functioning optimally. In situations like this, without prompt rescue, lives might be lost. Sometimes, network glitch could affect mobile phones of the victims, making it impossible to reach out to rescue teams. To illustrate this, these event might seem similar to what happened to Titanic, and before the rescue team arrived, most people have died. All these can be prevented by the company making provision for such occurances before it happens.

In conclusion, although the invention of driveless vehicles sounds advanced in technology, its disadvantages such as poor interne glitch in network outweigh its merits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the disadvantages of driverless vehicles, but it fails to provide a balanced discussion. The prompt asks whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, yet the essay focuses almost exclusively on the negatives. While a position is stated in the introduction, the 'advantages' side is completely ignored, which limits the development of the argument. The ideas presented, such as internet connectivity and network glitches, are relevant but could be more thoroughly explored. To improve, you must address both sides of the argument to provide a comprehensive response that fully answers the prompt's requirement to weigh advantages against disadvantages.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. There is a logical progression from the introduction to the body paragraphs and the conclusion. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and repetitive. For example, 'To salvage this' and 'To illustrate this' are used as transition markers, but the connection between sentences is sometimes weak. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the second paragraph where the reference to 'these event' lacks a clear antecedent. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would enhance the overall flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and range required for a higher band. There are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'demerits of this view' and 'provide quality masks' (which seems to be a typo for 'masts'). The repetition of 'optimally' and 'glitch' suggests a limited range. To achieve a higher score, you should aim to use more sophisticated vocabulary and collocations, such as 'technological infrastructure' instead of 'network system' or 'mitigate these risks' instead of 'salvage this'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. For instance, 'Driverless cars are advanced technology, and requires...' contains a subject-verb agreement error. There are also issues with article usage and pluralization, such as 'these event' instead of 'these events' and 'before the rescue team arrived, most people have died' (tense inconsistency). While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for subject-verb agreement and tense consistency will be beneficial.

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

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