Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-19

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)

Many people feel that in the future all transportation buses and trucks will be driverless. The only people travelling inside these vehicles will be passengers. In my opinion, in this case there are many drawbacks such as job losses for drivers and road accidents.

There will be advantages in the future all transportation, such as buses, cars, trains, and trucks, will be driverless, and the major benefit is less physical stress. Numerous people go to work or offices as part of their daily routine and currently have to drive themselves, but in the future, if cars, buses, and trains are driverless, then many of them will feel relaxed mentally and physically. For instance, many parents daily drop off their children to schools and then go to their offices or workplaces, but if cars are driverless, parents will feel free to let them go to school alone.

However, there will also be many disadvantages if transportation becomes driverless in the future; there will be many job losses, such as for drivers of cars, buses, trains, or trucks. For example, in China, taxis or cabs are now driverless in this country, so the drivers who used to drive these taxis or cabs in the past are now jobless. Another drawback is that there are many accidents involving these driverless cars. For instance, if a technical problem occurs in driverless transportation, such as a malfunction in the front camera while a truck is driving on the road, it can lead to an accident.

In conclusion, nowadays many countries have driverless cars or trains, but it should be ensured that a person is monitoring them from the driver's seat.

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, presenting a clear position in the introduction. The ideas are relevant, such as reduced physical stress and potential job losses, and supported with examples like parents letting children go to school alone and driverless taxis in China. However, some arguments tend to over-generalise or remain slightly under-developed, particularly in the conclusion which abruptly suggests human monitoring rather than fully synthesising the main points. The extent of task completion fits the Band 6.5 to 7.0 profile well, as it successfully covers the prompt requirements with a clear overall stance, though the depth of idea extension could be more robust.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is coherent overall with a clear logical arrangement divided into introduction, body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct themes. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'However', 'For instance', and 'Another drawback', though some connections feel slightly repetitive or mechanical. Referencing is generally clear, for example linking 'many of them' to daily drivers, but occasional structural transitions between sentences lack seamless fluidity. This performance aligns comfortably with the Band 6 descriptors for cohesion and logical progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms like 'transportation', 'malfunction', 'technical problem', and 'driverless'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'physical stress' and 'job losses'. However, word choice and collocation are occasionally awkward or imprecise, such as writing 'drop off their children to schools' instead of 'at schools', and repeating the phrase 'driverless cars, buses and trucks' frequently throughout the text. Spelling and word formation are generally accurate, allowing communication to proceed without hindrance, which places the lexicon firmly at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional structures ('if cars, buses, and trains are driverless, then many of them will feel relaxed') and relative clauses. There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings present, such as 'In the future all transportation buses and trucks will be driverless' missing necessary prepositions or conjunctions, and 'drop off their children to schools'. Punctuation is generally functional, and while errors occur, they rarely impede communication or obscure the writer's intended meaning, representing the characteristics of a Band 6.0 grammar score.

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

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