Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-20

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 the future, all motor cars, coaches and trucks will be automated. The only people travelling in these vehicles will be pessengers. In my opinion, the benefits of driverless vehicles outweigh the disadvantages.

On the one hand, the advantages of driverless transport are that if people have any important office work to do, then they can do it in cars and buses without any problem. Autonomous transports also help society to decrease the number of accidents which was caused by human error. It is a better facility for disabled people because they can go anywhere they want without any issue. For example, If they have an appointment with a doctor they need not worry about any transport and they simply book an automated car and travel in it. There are also many facilities for companies that transport goods by truck because they pay a high amount to the driver therefore with driverless trucks it helps organisations save money because they do not need to pay drivers.

On the other hand, the disadvantages of driverless cars are that people become lazy because they do not even drive their cars and usually they sleep on the driving seat. It also reduce the interest of driving. Mostly people lost their jobs that are working in a factories as a truck driver. Moreover if their is an emergency and they want to drive quickly then the automated car travels at a suitable speed.

In conclusion, advantages of automated transport is that the people can do any task they want instead of driving while, disadvantages is that people become lazy and do not take interest in driving. In my point of view advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of driverless vehicles and clearly stating a personal position in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant, such as increased productivity for passengers, a reduction in human error accidents, and cost savings for transport companies. On the opposing side, the student mentions potential laziness and job losses for truck drivers. However, some arguments are underdeveloped or repetitive. For instance, the point regarding emergencies and suitable speeds is somewhat unclear and abrupt. Overall, the response meets the core requirements of Task Response at a Band 6.0 level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into four paragraphs with a clear introduction and conclusion. The writer attempts to guide the reader through the arguments using basic transitional markers such as "On the one hand", "On the other hand", and "In conclusion". However, paragraphing and internal cohesion are sometimes faulty. For instance, the third paragraph contains a disjointed mix of ideas regarding laziness, job losses, and emergency driving speeds without adequate transition or logical progression. Referencing is also occasionally imprecise, such as the pronoun shift in "moreover if their is an emergency...", making the flow mechanical in places. This corresponds to a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary to address the topic, successfully employing terms like "automated", "autonomous transports", and "disabled people". However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as spelling "passengers" as "pessengers" in the opening sentence, writing "their is" instead of "there is", and using awkward phrasing like "mostly people lost their jobs". Less common lexical items are attempted but lack precision and natural collocation. These errors do not seriously impede communication, placing the vocabulary performance firmly at a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional clauses ("if people have any important office work to do, then they can do it...") and relative clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent minor errors with articles, prepositions, and subject-verb agreement, such as "Autonomous transports also help", "which was caused", and "disadvantages of automated transport is that". Punctuation is also neglected in places, notably missing commas after introductory phrases. Although these errors rarely impede overall comprehension, they prevent the grammar score from reaching Band 7.0.

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

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