Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-22

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)

As we are moving towards advancement, there will be no need of drivers in various vehicles such as cars, buses and trucks in upcoming days. There will be passengers only inside these vehicles. I believe, although driverless vehicles offers travel to the people with inabilities of driving, it can create serious threat in employment opportunities and laws and regulations.

Firstly, one major advantage of driverless vehicles is that many people who lacks ability to drive can enjoy travelling and they donot need any other people to depend upon. Additionally, many people who used to drive vehicles but cannot drive currently due to physical disabilities also get benefited from such advancement. As a result, one can enjoy their travel by setting the destination into the software of the particular vehicle. For example, In China, elderly people are using driverless vehicles because they frequently need to visit to the hospital. Due to this advancement they do not require other people to take them to hospital.

However, there are serious threats that such vehicles can cause. One of them is that it affect life of people by making them jobless. This is because, many people are working in driving sector and earning a good level of income. If vehicles does not require drivers and they may be job less. Additionally, there are no proper rules and regulations for driverless vehicles. In case of accidents there are no proper way of punishing the owner. Therefore, it is demanding to implement specially in developing countries. As a result, it is difficult to build trust among citizens. For instance, in Nepal, we can see few Tesla cars that are automated and does not require drivers, but they are banned in Bangladesh due to the lack of polices.

To conclude, the driverless vehicles can benefit to the specific group of people but the impact it create in an employment rate outweigh the overall advantage.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of driverless vehicles and clearly states a personal position in the introduction and conclusion. The ideas are relevant, particularly regarding accessibility for individuals with disabilities and the employment implications for drivers. However, the development of ideas tends to be somewhat superficial and lacks full elaboration. For example, while the point about elderly people in China using driverless vehicles is a good attempt at an example, the discussion regarding regulations and the example of Nepal and Bangladesh is slightly underdeveloped and contains factual inaccuracies regarding Tesla adoption and bans. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fitting the criteria for Band 6.0, as it presents relevant ideas, though some are under-developed or lack complete clarity in their supporting evidence.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different facets of the argument, such as advantages in the second paragraph and disadvantages in the third. Cohesive devices are employed to signal transitions, using words like 'Firstly', 'Additionally', 'However', and 'To conclude'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes mechanical or slightly faulty, such as 'As a result, it is difficult to build trust among citizens' following a discussion on legal frameworks. Furthermore, some sentences lack smooth logical progression, making the transitions feel slightly abrupt. Nevertheless, the progression of ideas is generally clear throughout, aligning well with the descriptors for a Band 6.0 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items and subject-specific terminology such as 'advancement', 'physical disabilities', 'employment opportunities', and 'automated'. However, there are notable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. For instance, the writer uses 'people who lacks ability' (grammatical error affecting lexical flow), 'affect life of people', and 'earning a good level of income' rather than more natural alternatives. Spelling is generally accurate, but lexical control is inconsistent, preventing the response from reaching a higher band. The vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey the intended meaning, which comfortably places this response at a Band 6.0 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional structures. However, there is a persistent presence of grammatical errors and awkward phrasing throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('driverless vehicles offers', 'people who lacks'), missing articles ('in upcoming days', 'in employment rate'), and preposition errors ('visit to the hospital'). Additionally, punctuation is occasionally neglected, such as missing commas after introductory transitional phrases. While these errors do not severely impede communication and the reader can easily grasp the intended meaning, they occur frequently enough to prevent the writing from achieving a Band 7.0. Therefore, a Band 6.0 is appropriate.

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

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