Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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 near future, it is almost certain among people to use driverless cars, which are operated by artificial intelligence. While it offers ease in the operation, risk factors associated with it make it more detrimental. I believe its demerits surpass advantages.

Everyone feels comfortable to travel in driverless cars and buses. This is because it doesnot require manual operation, where one need not to concentrate on shifting gears and balancing clutch and accelerators. As a result, one can have a seat and comfortably rest there. In case of long jounerys too, we can enjoy the trip without any physical exhaustion, engaging in our own stuffs. For instance, in the USA, people work on their laptop while they are in cars as car is operated automatically.

On the other hand, we cannot completely rely on the automation. The major reason behind this is technology may not always work well. Some malfunctionings may cost our lives. So, it would be better to have total control within ourselves, such as we must operate accelarators and brakes. On doing so, we can react accordingly in emergency conditions, where automation may not work properly. Moreover, it is reported that scanning of automated vehicles failed to detect and locate animals on the road; however, if it is was human driver, those road disturbances would be totally traced. For example, a news was broadcasted in the US that tesla's automated car failed to detect cows on road, and it got an accident.

Therefore, despite of the operational aid offered by driverless cars, potential dangers that may arise on their use are more significant.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of driverless vehicles and presents a clear position that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. The ideas are generally relevant, such as the comfort of passengers versus the risks of technological failure and accidents. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and lacks depth in places. For instance, the argument regarding the Tesla accident and animal detection is introduced, but the reasoning remains slightly generic. Despite these minor limitations in full extension, all parts of the task are addressed adequately, placing this response at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing each side, and a concluding sentence. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the advantages and disadvantages. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'While it offers', 'As a result', and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and transitions are at times mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'On doing so' and 'despite of'. Overall progression is maintained, but cohesion occasionally feels forced rather than fluid, aligning with a Band 6.0 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'detrimental', 'demerits', 'physical exhaustion', and 'malfunctioning'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'In near future' (missing article), 'engaging in our own stuffs' ('stuffs' is non-countable), 'accelarators' (spelling), and 'got an accident' (should be 'had an accident'). These errors do not impede communication, allowing the response to comfortably secure a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures like 'In case of long jounerys too, we can enjoy...' and relative clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text. Examples include missing articles ('In near future'), subject-verb agreement issues ('it doesnot require'), preposition errors ('on road' instead of 'on the road', 'despite of' instead of 'despite'), and typographical mistakes ('jounerys'). While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they prevent the text from achieving a higher score.

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

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