Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-29

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 4.5)

In recent years using phone for payments become very handy and its used very widly. This advancement has both sides which i would elavorate in upcoming paraghrapes.

First lets talk about the positive side of this advansment , we do not need to carry cash while going for shopping we can use out phones for payments.

Secondly its very convient to use , for assistance we can make payments for any shopping did through online or in person just by scanning thr QR code within seconds which is very easy. Moreover, most important when people use cash sometimes it becomes really hard to keep all the records but when payments are done throught ohones we have the records in our phone which we can acess anytimes.

on flip side there are some points which can not be ignored , high risk of security let me breiflyunderstand this , in case out device get stolen its can be proven very risky as anyone can acess our money very easily. Another point is it becomes wildy common is hacking you never know when you phone your device can be hacked which again deffinetly can risk you hard earning money in seconds .

After that all i personlly believe positive about this technowlede as this makes life really easy its reduced the need for hard money everytime to go. no doubt there is downside of this as well but still i would say that this is a postive change if we use it properly.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of using mobile phone apps for payments, ultimately stating a personal position that it is a positive development. Ideas are relevant, mentioning convenience, record-keeping, and the security risks associated with hacking and device theft. However, the development of these ideas is relatively limited and simplistic. For instance, the discussion on security is repetitive and lacks depth. Furthermore, there is a tendency to over-generalize without fully extending the supporting points. These limitations place the response comfortably within Band 5.0, as it addresses all parts of the task but remains somewhat under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text is structured into clear paragraphs, including an introduction, body paragraphs addressing both sides, and a conclusion. However, the overall progression is somewhat disjointed due to frequent punctuation and sentence-boundary errors (e.g., comma splices like 'First lets talk about the positive side of this advansment , we do not need to carry cash...'). Cohesive devices are basic and sometimes inaccurate or missing entirely, such as 'After that all i personlly believe'. Paragraphing is attempted, but internal cohesion is faulty and mechanical. This performance aligns with the Band 5 descriptor, where there is some organization but inadequate or repetitive cohesive devices.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is limited and basic, with frequent spelling mistakes throughout the text, such as 'widly' for widely, 'elavorate' for elaborate, 'paraghrapes' for paragraphs, 'advansment' for advancement, 'convient' for convenient, 'acess' for access, 'breiflyunderstand' for briefly understand, 'deffinetly' for definitely, 'technowlede' for technology, and 'reducued' for reduced. While the writer attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'advancement' and 'convenient', the sheer volume of spelling and word-choice errors (e.g., 'hard money' instead of cash) constrains the score to Band 4.0, as errors frequently strain the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and punctuation is weak. There are numerous run-on sentences and comma splices, such as 'Secondly its very convient to use , for assistance we can make payments for any shopping did through online or in person just by scanning thr QR code within seconds which is very easy.' Grammatical errors are frequent, including missing apostrophes ('its', 'dont'), incorrect verb forms ('did through online'), and subject-verb agreement issues. These errors cause difficulty for the reader and reflect the characteristics of a Band 4.0 performance, where errors are frequent and pervasive.

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