Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-01

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 6.5)

Our future is getting inclined towards the use of driverless vehicles and all the people using such means transportation to be passengers. While the drawbacks such as lack of control and functionality are there, the positive aspects of this development can far outweigh its disadvantages.

In today's modern era, science and its developments has advanced and grown exponentially. Same can be said for these automatically driven modes of transportation. One of the greatest benefit, the driverless cars has to offer is for those who are handicapped or the special needs individuals. The mere fact that they can move individually without having to rely on others can out rule its drawbacks. Secondly, 90% of the road traffic accidents are caused by human errors such as over-speeding or not abiding the basic laws set for the roads. The robot or automatically powered cars can result in the avoidance of these mishaps, as such vehicles cannot operate outside the rule book fed to their system.

However, these technologies are also a result of human manufacturing, leading to them being prone to errors. Similarly, some people do find it troublesome to rely on such machinery entirely, due to the possible lack of control in difficult situations. Also, few dire situations may need some decisions to be made despite what may seem obvious. For instance, one may have to break a few traffic rules in order to avoid a truck coming blindly at it, whereas the driverless cars may not be able to avoid such situations. With that being said, such product ranges are still evolving and it can be said without a doubt, that such drawbacks can be potentially solved and avoided.

To conclude, although the human manufactured self driven cars have some modifications to be made and potential disadvantages linked to them, their advantages of accessibility and decreased incidence of road traffic events to list a few, can far outweigh the drawbacks associated with them. With the innovations that are being made it is fairly said that they will replace mechanically driven cars and surely offer many advantages as well.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, clearly stating a position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The arguments regarding accessibility for individuals with special needs and the reduction of human-error-related accidents are relevant and well-supported. The counter-arguments regarding technical reliability and decision-making in emergencies are also addressed. However, the development of these points is somewhat general. To reach a higher band, the essay could benefit from more specific examples or deeper exploration of the implications of these technologies. Overall, the position is clear and maintained throughout the essay, meeting the requirements for a Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Each paragraph has a central theme, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'In today's modern era', 'Secondly', 'However', and 'To conclude' are used effectively to link ideas. While the flow is generally smooth, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and the referencing could be more sophisticated. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the advantages from the disadvantages, ensuring the reader can navigate the argument without difficulty.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning with some flexibility. The student uses topic-specific terms like 'automatically driven modes of transportation', 'human errors', and 'innovations'. There are some minor inaccuracies in collocation and word choice, such as 'getting inclined towards' and 'out rule its drawbacks', which sound slightly unnatural. However, these do not impede communication. The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, but more precise or academic phrasing would be required to achieve a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('science and its developments has advanced') and minor punctuation or phrasing slips ('the driverless cars has to offer'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not cause difficulty for the reader or impede understanding. The student shows an ability to use complex structures, but the control over these structures is not entirely consistent. A higher band would require more error-free sentences and greater precision in complex grammatical forms.

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

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