Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-10

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)

The significant increase in usage of smartphones to pay their bills online. In my opinion, this is what innovation is about, embracing the development cause by tecnology. In this essay I will discuss how this will be beneficial in most of countries.

Most countries fully embrace technology, such as smartphones that helps making countries develop a solution to manual labors. Firstly, using smartphones to pay for their things instead of manually counting to pay. By using the smartphones to pay online will prevent crimes from happening, such as theft or money heist. Whereas, stores sales are already digital instead of using cash that is prone to such crimes.

Secondly, this forces consumers to pay exact amount of their things. Using digital money to pay for your things does not give change, as this only allows you to pay exactly as needed because of its automation. Additionally this will help stores avoid loss of their profit, because some cashier often missed count change. Moreover, this prevent buyers to give fake cash to the cashiers.

Finally, all these advantages will help all transactions to a smooth and fast transaction. Using digital money to pay their things only need a second to process the payment automatically.

In conlusion, I strongly believe that these advantages, such as preventing crime from happening, and forcing consumers to pay exact amount due to automation. Will result in smooth and fast transactions. Although, we need to consider internet usage for mobile phones to be able to pay digitally for their things. Nevertheless, these advantages will help stores to have convenient daily transactions.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you consider mobile payments more advantageous, and you give relevant reasons, including reducing theft, avoiding incorrect change, and speeding up transactions. These points address the question, and the conclusion restates your view. However, some ideas are more fully explained than others. The claim that app payments prevent crime is broad and would benefit from a specific example or explanation of what risks are reduced; the point about paying the exact amount is also not fully convincing, since digital payments do not necessarily prevent cashier errors or fake-cash problems in every situation. You briefly acknowledge internet access as a limitation, but do not weigh it against the benefits. Develop and qualify these points to make the argument more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “Finally” make the main points easy to identify, and the ideas generally progress from security to accuracy and speed. However, the linking is sometimes mechanical, and some connections between claims are unclear. For example, “Whereas, stores sales are already digital” does not clearly show how this supports the point about preventing crime. The final body paragraph is brief and largely repeats the idea of faster transactions rather than extending it. Use clearer links between each claim and its explanation, and develop paragraphs more evenly so the progression feels less list-like.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main argument, including “automation,” “transactions,” “theft,” and “digital money.” However, the range is limited and several phrases are repetitive or imprecise, particularly repeated references to paying “for their things.” Some word combinations are unnatural, such as “manual labors,” “stores sales,” and “smooth and fast transaction,” which can make the reader pause. There are also spelling errors, including “tecnology” and “conlusion.” Aim for more precise terms for the payment process and its effects, and check spelling carefully. Using a wider range of natural collocations would make the argument clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, and the overall meaning is usually understandable. However, sentence structure and agreement are not consistently controlled. The opening, “The significant increase in usage of smartphones to pay their bills online,” is a fragment rather than a complete sentence. In “smartphones that helps,” the verb does not agree with the plural noun, while “By using the smartphones to pay online will prevent crimes” has an incomplete construction. The conclusion also separates “Will result” from the sentence it belongs to, and “this prevent buyers” lacks the correct verb form. Practise building complete clauses and checking subject–verb agreement, articles, and punctuation. More accurate control of these patterns would make your ideas easier to follow.

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