Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-17
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 5.0)
In most of countries, using cell phones are becoming common trend for payment. this development have lot of benefits which i will discuss in upcoming paragraphs with examples.
The first advantage is to avoid the risk of losing cards.to explain it more, when people going outside they they have no need to take their debit or credit card with you for the payment because now with support of technology, phones have features to add the personal cards in wallet app.as a result they have no chance to forget and lose their card at anywhere. For example, for last two years almost 90 percent young ones use the apple wallet to pay their mobile phone bills ,shopping bills as compared to using physical card.
The second benefit is keep record. By doing online payments ,they can easily check their records of their payments at anytime and anywhere in order how much money they spend each day. for example, last year how money they spend to book a fight from Canada to India without facing any difficulty.
if i talk about native side , some time people have a trouble to pay their payment by using cell phone due to network problem and sometime phone battery is dead.
in conclusion ,using online apps to pay their bills is a easy and convienant way to keep the record of their transactions and reduce the chance to forget their card and money at a particular place as well.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of mobile payments. However, the development of ideas is limited and somewhat superficial. For instance, the point about 'keeping records' is mentioned but lacks depth, and the counter-argument regarding technical issues is very brief. Furthermore, the response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 250 words, which negatively impacts the overall development of the task. To improve, you should expand on your arguments with more detailed explanations and ensure you meet the length requirement to allow for a full exploration of the topic.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or missing. Transitions between sentences are frequently abrupt, such as 'to explain it more' or 'if i talk about native side'. The referencing is sometimes unclear, and the flow of ideas is hindered by the lack of sophisticated linking words. To improve, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices (e.g., 'consequently', 'furthermore', 'nevertheless') to connect your ideas more fluidly and ensure that each paragraph has a clear, logical progression.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is generally functional but basic. There is a reliance on simple, repetitive language, such as 'good', 'easy', and 'common'. While the meaning is generally clear, there is little evidence of less common lexical items or idiomatic expressions. There are also some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'native side' instead of 'the downside' or 'disadvantages'. To reach a higher band, you should aim to incorporate more precise vocabulary related to technology and finance, and work on using collocations more accurately.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'using cell phones are becoming'), missing articles, and incorrect pronoun usage (e.g., 'take their debit or credit card with you'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with several run-on sentences and missing spaces after periods. While these errors do not completely prevent communication, they are frequent enough to distract the reader. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement will significantly improve your score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.