Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-11-04

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 6.5)

Digital payments via mobile apps have become a global phenomenon. Everybody accepts digital payments nowadays, be it a small cafe owner or a multi-billion retail chain. You would find the QR code scanners everywhere. People have stopped carrying cash alltogether. And I strongly believe that this trend has more advantages than disadvantages.

The payments have become hassle free. You can send any amount to anyone just by the click of a button. People no-longer have to worry about carrying adequate change. A couple of years ago I was travelling with my friend to a very famous restaurant. The cab fare was 165 rupees. Both my friend and I, we had a 500 rupee bill. Nobody had change, and so ultimately we gave the driver a 500 rupee note and told him to keep the change. That was one expensive cab ride. With digital payments, these situations can be easily avoided.

The other big advantage is that you can easily transfer money from one account to the other without going to the bank. This incident happened when I was in college and I had to pay the college fees. I was short on cash and so I asked my father to wire the money. That process took at least a day. In the meantime I had to borrow money from a friend. This embarassing incident can now be completely avoided with the instant account-to-account money transfer using the mobile apps

One disadvantage that I can think off is digital fraud. Scamsters can impersonate a known person and fraud people into sending them money. People need to very cautious and double check the receiver's name when transferring money. My father had received several calls from people pretending to be from his bank and asking for emi default payment. Since he was always been cautious, he used to double check with the bank before sending money. This is a practice that each one of us should follow.

Even though digital payments can be sometimes risky, this can easily be mitigated if people double check the receiver name before sending money. Digital payments have more to offer than its demerits. It makes our life easier, we don't have to worry about carrying change. It is widely accepted by vendors everywhere, and hence it makes payments hassle-free. All we need to worry about is carrying our mobile phones.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: you believe mobile payments bring more advantages than disadvantages, and you maintain this view in the conclusion. You address both sides by explaining convenience and rapid transfers, then acknowledging fraud as a risk. The personal examples—the cab fare and paying college fees—make the benefits relevant and help extend your main points. The fraud discussion is also supported with your father’s experience and a practical precaution. To strengthen the response further, develop the disadvantages more fully: the discussion focuses mainly on impersonation scams, while other possible concerns, such as privacy or dependence on a charged phone, are not explored. Some claims, including that people have stopped carrying cash, are also broad generalisations that could be qualified or supported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The essay has a clear overall progression: an introduction states your view, separate paragraphs develop two advantages and a disadvantage, and the conclusion returns to your position. Paragraphing is appropriate, and signposts such as “The other big advantage” and “One disadvantage” make the direction easy to follow. The examples are generally placed beside the points they support. However, some linking is repetitive, particularly the repeated emphasis on avoiding change and making payments hassle-free in the conclusion. A few transitions could also show the relationship between ideas more precisely; for example, the move from the fraud example to the general advice about checking recipients could be made more explicit. Aim for varied, natural links and avoid restating the same benefit in several places.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “digital payments,” “account-to-account money transfer,” “impersonate,” and “mitigated.” These choices communicate the main ideas clearly, and the personal examples are easy to understand. There are, however, some spelling and word-choice errors, such as “alltogether,” “embarassing,” and “think off,” which reduce accuracy. A few expressions are informal or imprecise for an essay, including “big advantage,” “wire the money,” and “all we need to worry about.” Some collocations also sound unnatural, such as “fraud people into sending them money.” Work on accurate spelling and more natural topic-specific phrasing, while keeping the vocabulary clear rather than forcing overly formal words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including conditional phrasing (“these situations can be easily avoided”) and subordinate clauses (“Since he was always been cautious…”). Most sentences communicate their meaning, and the examples are generally easy to follow. Some grammatical errors remain. For instance, “People need to very cautious” is missing “be,” and “Since he was always been cautious” has an incorrect verb form. In “Both my friend and I, we had a 500 rupee bill,” the subject structure is awkward, while “before sending money” would be clearer with an article or possessive before “receiver’s name.” Review verb forms, omitted verbs, and sentence construction, and proofread punctuation around longer sentences. More consistently accurate complex sentences would improve control.

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