Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-12

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)

In this contemporary era, a significant number of people are using various transports in daily life. These days, development of technologies in automation industries and new upgraded vehicles are introduced in the market has made the driving more convenient. Some people believe that these upcoming technologies would make driving more easy and the only people travelling inside these vehicles will be passengers. I believe that the advantages of driverless vehicles can not outweigh the disadvantages.

Firstly, there are numerous advantages of automatic vehicles. Driverless vehicles are making driving more comfortable and people can travel everywhere effortlessly. The driver can now relax during his journey and can do other personal work while driving. People can transport their goods from one place to another with wasting their energy. Many companies are also working on introducing automatic buses that can pick over 50 of passengers without a driver. For example, in Japan the engineeers have created a bus that is used in moving people to their destination. The navigation system of the technology is also very accurate and there is a minimal chance of error.

However, these modernistic type of technology have many drawbacks. Some people have completely depended on this innovation and driving carelessly. Sometimes these vehicles fails to navigate and track other vehicles properly which leads to terrible accidents. Blindly trusting on these vehicles will cause many consequences in future.

In conclusion, although it is true that driverless cars and other transports will make our life more comfortable, i believe that using it unawaring of its precision and margin of errors would cause serious issues.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of driverless vehicles and clearly states a position in the introduction that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Ideas are presented and supported with examples, such as the mention of automatic buses in Japan. However, some arguments lack deep elaboration and border on generalisation, such as the claim that people will completely depend on the innovation and drive carelessly. The development of ideas is sufficient to meet the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7, but greater depth and specific nuance in exploring both sides would be needed to reach higher bands. Therefore, a band score of 6.5 is appropriate for this criterion, reflecting a well-rounded attempt that addresses the task adequately with clear positioning.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is divided into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to signal progression, such as 'Firstly' and 'However'. However, referencing and paragraph transitions are at times mechanical. For instance, the transition into the third paragraph ('However, these modernistic type of technology have many drawbacks.') feels slightly abrupt. Additionally, pronoun reference is occasionally vague, such as 'using it unawaring' in the final sentence. Overall, the organisation demonstrates clear logical progression, fulfilling the descriptors for Band 6.0, as the overarching structure is coherent despite some occasional mechanical transitions.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, incorporating terms such as 'contemporary era', 'automation industries', and 'navigation system'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as 'modernistic type of technology' instead of 'modern technology' and 'pick over 50 of passengers' instead of 'pick up over 50 passengers'. Furthermore, the phrase 'unawaring' is incorrect. These errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score. The range is sufficient to meet the task requirements, making a Band 6.0 appropriate, as the writer attempts less common vocabulary with some recurring inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including relative clauses ('a bus that is used in moving people') and conditional or concessive clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('these modernistic type of technology have'), preposition misuse ('with wasting their energy' instead of 'without wasting'), and tense errors ('sometimes these vehicles fails'). Punctuation and capitalization errors also appear, such as the lowercase 'i' in the conclusion. These errors occur regularly, though they rarely impede overall comprehension. This balance of complex attempts alongside recurring errors aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor.

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

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