Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries, paying for things using mobile phone (cellphone) apps is becoming increasingly common. Does this development have more advantages or more disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Paying through cellphone is becoming more popular in many part of the the world. This development has both prose and cons, which will be describe in upcoming paragraphs.

First and foremost benefit is, it is time saving. To elaborate this, some people are take too much time to count money at billing counter due to this many people are waiting behind them on the line. Therefore, when they pay bill electronically it will save not only their time but also it helps everyone at the counter. In addition, no need to carry bag or cash. To explain this, when human beings pay via phone they do not need to carry cash, specially woman can go outside without bag. These are some advantages behind this trend.

However, it has some cons such as, delay in processing time. Sometime due to poor network connection individual face delay in payment process time and many more issues. Furthermore, payment through mobile phone increase the level of risk. To illustrate this, if people are paying for things using modern technology they may have chance to lose their data, too. For instance, their bank details and home address.

To sum up, this trend has both negative and positive outcome. Payment through mobile phone save time as well hands free experience but customers have chance to lose their personal information and some network issues.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both advantages and disadvantages of mobile payments. However, the essay is significantly under the 250-word minimum requirement (227 words), which negatively impacts the development of ideas. While the main points are relevant, they are somewhat superficial and lack the depth required for a higher band score. The position is clear, but the lack of word count prevents a full exploration of the topic. To improve, you must expand your arguments with more detailed examples and ensure you meet the minimum length requirement to allow for sufficient task development.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a basic attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'First and foremost', 'In addition', and 'However'. However, the flow is sometimes mechanical, and the transitions between sentences could be smoother. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'due to this many people are waiting', where the connection to the previous clause is slightly awkward. Paragraphing is present, but the development within those paragraphs is limited, making the overall progression feel somewhat abrupt.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but remains quite basic and repetitive. Phrases like 'paying for things', 'some people are take too much time', and 'many more issues' lack precision and sophistication. There are also minor errors in word choice, such as 'prose and cons' (should be 'pros and cons') and 'hands free experience' (which is not a standard collocation in this context). To achieve a higher score, you should aim to use a wider range of topic-specific vocabulary and more natural collocations related to digital finance and technology.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow of reading. Examples include 'some people are take too much time' (incorrect verb form), 'many part of the the world' (repetition and missing plural), and 'specially woman can go outside' (incorrect singular/plural usage). Punctuation is generally functional, but the sentence structure is often repetitive. You need to focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles to improve your accuracy.

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