Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-01

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)

In numerous countries, the evident utilization of smartphone applications for payments is seen very frequently among people. I do believe, this digitilization indeed outnumbers postivies then negatives.

The trending era of technology and computerization, has aided people with ease and flexibilty. Back in times, people had to carry cash but now the easy access of bank applications as well as various paymemt methods has given people conveinence to pay it by just one tap on their mobile phones. For instance, tapmad is widely used application used in the UK for seemless payments locally and internationally on their cellphones.

In addition to that, one most prominent reason of switching to these methods is not only ease but sense of security. All of the payment links or methods are end to end encrypted, making it the most trustable and secure method of doing transactions, minimizing the risk of carring bulks of cash and fraud. Forexample, Many business vendors prefer to do payments through their mobile applications rather than checks or cash.

On the contrary, there is certainly some disadvantages to it as well, among them is people who are unawre on how to use it correctly, might make mistakes to use it. Moreover, the elderly population has always dealt payments via cash so it is hard for them to switch to another methods especially through any gadget. Furthermore, sometimes due to technical issues payments might get delayed or reverted making it a little arduous task.

In conculsion, the trend and the use of mobile phones to carry out everything including payments will upsurge in upcoming years, which definitely has more impactful advantages then the drawbacks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of using mobile phone apps for payments, presenting a clear position that the advantages outweighing the drawbacks. Relevant ideas are presented, such as convenience and security as benefits, alongside technical issues and accessibility for the elderly as drawbacks. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others; for instance, the advantage regarding security is supported with a specific example, whereas the disadvantages are somewhat limited and under-developed, lacking detailed elaboration. To reach the next level, all ideas would need to be equally extended and supported with fully fleshed-out examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from introduction to body paragraphs discussing advantages, then disadvantages, and finally a conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately to separate these distinct themes. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'In addition to that', 'On the contrary', and 'In conculsion'. Nevertheless, cohesion is sometimes a little mechanical, and referencing or linking can occasionally feel slightly abrupt. To progress further, the writer could ensure that transitions between sentences and paragraphs flow more naturally and seamlessly without relying on formulaic connective phrases.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'digitilization', 'computerization', 'end to end encrypted', and 'upsurge'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'digitilization' instead of 'digitisation', 'postivies' instead of 'positives', 'conveinence' instead of 'convenience', 'seemless' instead of 'seamless', and 'unawre' instead of 'unaware'. Additionally, phrases like 'dealt payments via cash' display unnatural collocation. These lexical inaccuracies and spelling slips do not impede overall communication, placing the response right in the middle tier for vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures like 'In numerous countries, the evident utilization of...' and relative clauses such as 'people who are unaware'. There are some errors in grammar, punctuation, and article usage, including awkward phrasing like 'outnumbers positives then negatives' instead of 'outnumbers positives than negatives', preposition slips such as 'deals payments via cash', and punctuation errors like comma splices. However, these errors rarely impede communication and the basic meaning remains clear. To achieve a higher band, the writer would need to demonstrate a wider variety of error-free complex sentences with tighter control over articles and prepositions.

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