Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-23

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)

In 21st century, technology have been playing vital role in each and every peoples' lives. Nowadays, many individuals are paying for the products through cellphones in various nations and it is trending in cuurent time. I believe that, it has both; pros and cons.

To begin with, there are plethora of benifits of paying for goods, which people buy for them with mobile phones. Firstly, individuals do not need to carry their wallet everywhere with large amount of cash, thus there are less percentage of chances to get robbed. For example, one report of Oxford university claim that, after using online banking, money robbery ratio has been decline to 74% in America in last 2 years. Additionly, Mankind can purchase anything in minute from just using his / her phone, as, it is really quick bank trasfering process. Moreover, people can do grocery shopping, they can order food and other things via just paying by their phones.

On the flipside, one major drawback of using cellphone is, Overspending money- due to just tap the phone on the machine and buy a things, people are became impusive buyer, which is not good for themselves. In addition to that, individuals need to take care of their mobile phones every time, because, If someone steal it, so they can easily access their bank and take funds out of it. Lastly, using phones for paying the new things make mankind depandable on technology, which is also harmful mentally and physically. For an example, In China, 80 - 85% humans have been being suffered from heart issue becase of keep encountering with rediations of cellphones .

To conclude, using phone for making payments is benificial to some extent, however, it has some disadvantages too, though, everyone ought to use it in limit and not to overdependent on it.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of using mobile payment apps, presenting a clear position that it has pros and cons. Main ideas are introduced, such as security benefits and the drawback of overspending, but some arguments lack sufficient development and rely on dubious claims, such as the unsupported statistic about Oxford University and the strange claim regarding radiation causing heart issues. While the prompt asks whether there are more advantages or disadvantages, the student concludes that it is beneficial to some extent and requires moderation, which sufficiently answers the question. The response covers the requirements adequately, placing it firmly in the Band 6 territory due to some under-developed or unconvincing supporting points.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response is organized into clear paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs focusing separately on advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to signal progression, such as 'To begin with', 'Firstly', 'On the flipside', and 'To conclude'. However, referencing and transitions are at times mechanical or slightly clumsy, such as 'For example, one report of Oxford university claim that...', and the flow within paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by awkward phrasings and run-on sentences. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct themes, meeting the criteria for a Band 6 score where logical organization is generally present despite some faulty cohesive ties.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student attempts to use a range of vocabulary with words like 'plethora', 'impulsive', and 'overdependent', demonstrating an adequate range for the task. However, there are frequent spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'cuurent', 'benifits', 'transfering', 'became', 'depandable', and 'rediantions'. Collocations are sometimes unnatural, as seen in 'money robbery ratio has been decline' and 'keep encountering with'. These lexical inaccuracies and spelling mistakes prevent the vocabulary from reaching a higher band, though communication is generally maintained, aligning well with the Band 5 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like conditional clauses ('If someone steal it, so they can easily access...') and relative clauses. However, control over grammar is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('technology have been playing', 'peoples' lives'), incorrect verb forms ('humans have been being suffered'), and punctuation mistakes. While complex structures are attempted, they often contain errors that cause some difficulty for the reader, which places this performance at Band 5.

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