Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-08

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 6.0)

Over the past many years, due to drastic increase in technology, the traditional way of paying has changed.

Some traditional way of payments include cash, bank transfer, cheques last but not list credit card.

Nevertheless, due to technological advancement, mode of payment has been changed from paying using traditional way to paying via your fingers. one of the best example is introduction of UPI.

Since the introduction of UPI, many companies like Phone Pay and Google Pay as an examples, made paying very easy. These app enables anyone to pay anyone in one click via cell phones. As per recent statics, majorities of global payments and remittance are now done via cellphones. All thanks to these applications.

However, some people argue that, paying for things using mobile phones have very negative effect on an individual spending.

In my perspective, this increasing tread hold both advantages and disadvantages at the same time.

Starting with advantages, undoubtedly, this advancement has been people life easy as they can pay anyone from anywhere. Unlike cash, there is no fear of money getting stolen and tear of paper money

as money is secure in an individual bank account. Moreover, from a government point of view, states prefer people should do more online transactions rather than paying offline as it helps them to keep track and monitor of all the transactions and help them identifying fraud and money laundering.

Moving ahead, the only two disadvantages in my opinion are the risk of over spending. Firstly, it is psychologically proven that people tend to spend more these days as they don't realize that outflow as people used to get while paying cash.

Secondly, cyber theft. cyber crimes rates are increasing day by day and due to vast majority of population are not aware of the on these crimes people are loosing money.

In conclusion, advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, providing a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The ideas are relevant, covering convenience, security, and government oversight as advantages, and overspending and cybercrime as disadvantages. However, the development of these points is somewhat limited. For instance, the discussion on government tracking could be expanded with more specific examples of how this impacts the economy. While the position is consistent, the supporting arguments lack depth, which prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. The conclusion is brief but effectively summarizes the writer's stance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Starting with advantages', 'Moreover', and 'Moving ahead', which help guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions are mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'last but not list' (a misspelling of 'least') and 'Moving ahead'. The referencing is generally clear, though the flow between sentences within paragraphs could be smoother. The paragraphing is appropriate for the task, providing a clear structure that aids readability.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks sophistication. There are several instances of imprecise word choice and minor errors, such as 'drastic increase in technology' (should be 'advancement'), 'statics' (should be 'statistics'), and 'tread' (should be 'trend'). Phrases like 'paying via your fingers' are informal and not ideal for an IELTS essay. While the student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'remittance', 'money laundering', and 'cyber theft', the overall range is limited, and the errors occasionally draw attention to the language rather than the content.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include 'Some traditional way of payments include' (subject-verb agreement), 'one of the best example is' (pluralization error), and 'due to vast majority of population are not aware' (incorrect sentence structure). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors suggests a lack of control over complex structures, keeping the score in the 5.5 to 6.0 range.

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