Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-31
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)
It is being assumed that vehicles such as cars, trucks, and buses will be driverless in the future and they would be only passengers in them.
On the one hand, driverless vehicles are controlled by a softwear and the malfuctioning is possible. The softwear could detect that there is no vehicle nearby even in the presenses of other vehicle which eventually lead to accident. For instance, Tesla, a famous driverless company, often in the news that their car is crashed due to miscalculation of the system. In addition, driverless can also mark a wrong destination due to an softwear error. Destinations are often selected with shortest path to it but automated vehicles can experience an error which would redirect them to the longer path. As a result, passengers can be late for their jobs or essential work.
On the other hand, smart vehicles can reach to anywhere at anytime. Drivers sometimes are not available at late night in countryside areas, but driverless vehicles can reach their destinations anytime. For example, a person lives in countryside which does not have much taxies there, but driverles will help him to reach his destination even in the night.
In conclusion, there are some benfits of driverless cars but the disadvantages outweig its advantages.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both advantages and disadvantages, but the development is insufficient. The essay is significantly under the 250-word minimum, which prevents a full exploration of the topic. While you state your position in the conclusion, the arguments provided are brief and lack depth. For instance, the point about Tesla is a good start, but it needs more elaboration to be considered a well-developed idea. To improve, ensure you provide more detailed explanations and examples for each point, and aim to meet the word count requirement to allow for a comprehensive discussion of the topic.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay uses basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'In addition', and 'In conclusion' to structure the response. However, the progression of ideas is somewhat mechanical. Paragraphing is present, but the logical flow between sentences could be improved to create a smoother reading experience. Some transitions feel forced, and the relationship between ideas is sometimes simplistic. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices and ensure that each paragraph has a clear, central topic sentence that links back to your main argument.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. There are several spelling errors, such as 'softwear' (software), 'malfuctioning' (malfunctioning), 'presenses' (presence), and 'benfits' (benefits). Additionally, some word choices are imprecise, such as 'driverless can also mark a wrong destination'. To improve, focus on learning the correct spelling of technical terms and expanding your vocabulary to include more sophisticated collocations and academic phrases. Using a wider variety of synonyms will also help demonstrate a more flexible control of language.
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. Examples include 'It is being assumed that...', 'they would be only passengers in them', and 'driverless can also mark'. There are also issues with article usage and subject-verb agreement. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy, particularly with verb tenses and pluralization, and try to incorporate more complex sentence structures with greater precision.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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