Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-28

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 6.5)

The trend of payment method has change, people prefer to pay via mobile phone applications. I believe this change has more advantages because the digital mode of payments is more transparent which benefits many people including small businesses.

The major advantage of using digital payment is that it allows to track every transaction. This helps people to find out where money is being spent and from whom they receive the money. This makes finances transparent. For example, small businesses such as grocery stores can track their income by exporting all payments from mobile applications. In addition, if they made all expenses via mobile applications, they can also track their expenses. This helps to find accurate profit and margin based on their income and expenses. This shows that, online payment methods are helpful to track transactions.

On the other hand, some people believe digitalization in payment industry increases the risk of scam. This specially harms people who are not tech-savvy. Bad actors often try to scam people by asking passkey or offering wrong payment QR code which leads financial loss to victims. for example, bad actors often impersonate themselves as a bank representative and ask for one time password on call. This can lead full bank access of the victim's account and victim can loss all money. Therefore, using digital payments may lead to losing life long saving.

To conclude, although some bad people try to scam others, cyber awareness can save people from these crimes. I believe advantages is outweigh disadvantages as digitalize payments make all transactions transparent. It eases for small businesses to track every transaction and make their bookkeeping accurate.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, clearly stating a position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as the use of mobile payments by small businesses and the risks of scams for non-tech-savvy individuals. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited; the explanation of why transparency is a benefit could be more deeply explored beyond just bookkeeping. The conclusion effectively summarizes the main points and reinforces the writer's stance. To reach a higher band, ensure that the supporting arguments are more thoroughly elaborated with more sophisticated reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the advantages and disadvantages. Cohesive devices such as 'In addition', 'On the other hand', and 'Therefore' are used to link ideas, though some transitions feel a bit mechanical. There are minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the slightly abrupt transition between the benefits for small businesses and the discussion of scams. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear and easy to follow throughout the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are some attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'digitalization', 'transaction', and 'bookkeeping'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'payment method has change' (should be 'changed') and 'leads financial loss' (should be 'leads to financial loss'). The range is sufficient to convey meaning, but more precise and varied vocabulary would be needed for a higher band score. The repetition of 'bad actors' and 'mobile applications' also limits the lexical variety.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with verb tenses and article usage, such as 'if they made all expenses' (should be 'make') and 'the payment industry' (should be 'the payments industry'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, though there are some minor errors like the lowercase 'f' in 'for example' at the start of a sentence. The errors do not impede communication, but they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Increasing the variety of complex structures while improving accuracy would be beneficial.

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