Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-23

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)

As it can be evidently observed, there is a rapid growth in the advancement of technology. Consequently, making human lives much easier than it was by certain innovations. One of them considerably being self-driving vehicles which to a certain extent might be of aid but i strongly believe that its disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

Living in an era that highly depends on technology and probably would in the future, it is no doubt of driverless vehicles being the norm. Since self-driving cars have already been introduced on roads. Although there are major drawbacks in terms of safety. To cite an example, there have been incidents where the car seemed to have malfunctioned and took wrong path, resulting in harm to the lives present in the car, as it had most of the control hijacking it became quite difficult.

Secondly, age factor plays a vital role as well. Since most of the elderly are distant from this fast-paced technology, navigation would be a huge issue for them as well as keeping up with periodic updates. there are times when young children might take advantage and drive off somewhere without any adult supervision for the sake of adrenaline rush and thrill. For instance, it has been reported that a child took off in a self-driving electric car and took off with his little sister, later ended up in a different city.

In conclusion, though having various advantages, in my opinion sticking to traditional method of driving vehicles tends to be a safer option as well as a reliable one.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt and maintains a clear position throughout. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention safety concerns and the 'age factor,' the arguments lack depth and specific analysis. For instance, the example of a child driving a car is anecdotal and slightly implausible, which weakens the persuasive impact of your argument. To reach a higher band, ensure that your supporting points are more logically sound and fully explored, rather than relying on extreme scenarios. The conclusion is present but brief.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'Consequently,' 'Although,' and 'In conclusion.' However, some transitions are mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'One of them considerably being self-driving vehicles.' Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear, and the flow between sentences could be smoother. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that each paragraph has a strong topic sentence would enhance the overall coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'advancement,' 'innovations,' and 'malfunctioned.' However, there are some instances of imprecise word choice and awkward phrasing, such as 'control hijacking' and 'distant from this fast-paced technology.' There is also a lack of more sophisticated or 'less common' lexical items that would elevate the essay. To improve, focus on using collocations more accurately and expanding your vocabulary to include more academic expressions related to technology and transportation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including issues with sentence fragments (e.g., 'Consequently, making human lives much easier...'), subject-verb agreement, and punctuation. For example, 'there are times when...' starts with a lowercase letter, and some sentences are run-on or lack proper subordination. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on proofreading for basic sentence construction and ensuring that every sentence has a clear subject and verb.

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