Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-21

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)

Nowadays, paying using mobile phone is becoming more common in many countries. People can use their phone for paying the bills or buying their foods sending money to their famillies. Although this development contain some disadvantages. I Believe that this has more advantages because its convenient and save times. This essay will discuss both views.

one important advantage of mobile phone payments is people dont need to go to physical store for buying foods or going to the bank for paying bills. Because you can do this transaction while you are at home. In addtion, it saves peoples time. For example, if you are daily worker which start working from 8am to 5pm.in this time all the banks are already close by this time you cannot transact thru bank teller for your paying transaction purposes.But todays world where everyone can use mobile phone for payment is a highly advantage specially to those people who dont have time for early transaction.

However,there are some advantages to this development. One major problem is the risk of online scams and fraud. Criminals may steal your personal information or trick users into sending money to wrong account. Furthermore, people may not be able to make payments when their phone runs out of battery or when there is no internet connection.

In conclusion, although mobile phone payments become popular these days there is also certain risk and limitations. I believe that their advantages outweight their disadvantages. they save time. make transaction easier, and help people monitor their transactions. However, users should protect their personal data when it comes to their personal information and use trusted application to avoid problems in the futere.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You answer the question directly and maintain a clear view that mobile payments have more advantages, while also acknowledging risks such as scams and loss of access when a phone has no battery or internet. The examples about workers being unable to visit banks during opening hours and users’ personal information make the discussion relevant. However, the advantages are developed more fully than the disadvantages, and some claims need clearer explanation: for instance, “help people monitor their transactions” appears only in the conclusion. The opening also promises to “discuss both views,” although the task asks you to weigh advantages against disadvantages. Develop each main point with a specific explanation or example and make the comparison between the two sides more explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion that restates your position. This gives the reader an overall logical route through the argument. You also use linking expressions such as “In addition,” “However,” and “In conclusion.” At times, though, connections are mechanical or unclear. “Although this development contain some disadvantages” is left as a fragment, and “However, there are some advantages” introduces a paragraph about disadvantages, confusing the progression. Some sentences in the advantages paragraph run together, making the example harder to follow. Use complete sentences, ensure each transition matches the point that follows, and organise the example into a clearer sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “online scams,” “fraud,” “personal information,” and “internet connection.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions such as “physical store” and “bank teller.” However, word choice and collocation are often inaccurate or repetitive, which limits precision: “paying the bills,” “buying their foods,” and “highly advantage” do not sound natural in context. Spelling errors such as “famillies,” “addtion,” and “outweight” also reduce control. Build a bank of accurate phrases for payments and digital security, and check spelling and word forms carefully. More natural collocations would make your ideas clearer without changing their meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex forms, including a conditional example beginning “if you are daily worker” and a contrast introduced by “Although.” The main message is generally understandable, but some sentence structures are incomplete or faulty. “Although this development contain some disadvantages” is a dependent clause without a main clause, while “Because you can do this transaction while you are at home” is also a fragment. There are errors in agreement and verb forms, as in “it saves peoples time” and “mobile phone payments become popular.” Punctuation and sentence boundaries are inconsistent, especially in the long example about working hours. Practise joining dependent clauses to complete sentences and check agreement, articles, and punctuation.

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