Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-16

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In the future, people may no longer be able to pay for things in shops using cash. All payments may have to be made by card or using phones. Do you think this will happen one day? Why do you think some people might not be happy to give up using cash?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 6.0)

In today's rapid evolving world, the issue of making payments has become a matter of public interest. Number of individuals believe that cash payments will be completely replace with electronic payments in future period. Some people are excited about this development and on the other hand some people believe that cash is easy way for payment. I my opinion this trend is already adopt by many countries and will be followed by remaining countries in future.

The primary reason by the people who don't like this trend is that sometimes due to technical issues bank double charge the money or sometimes payment declined in the seller's machine but deducted for the buyer's account. Moreso, these kinds of payment took more than 5 business day to return back to customer's account. For instance, once my friend went to furniture store to buy a couch for his house, there is some problem in the internet connection of shop and when he did the payment money deducted from his account and in shop's system transaction got declined. Consequently, he have to wait for a week to buy a new couch.

Other important reason is that aged people are not much aware about sophisticated technology and they found it hard to use smart phones. Furthermore, there is a lot of scam activities were reported. For example, some scammers put electronic chips on the pin pad machine and when customer insert there card then there bank account got hacked and resulted into unnecessary payments.

On the other hand people those who in favor of this trend believe that it is very easy to carry cards as compared to carry cash. In other words, it is challenging to make a record of all the cash transactions. Additionally, is individuals lost there wallet it is hard to get cash money back but if there is any scam transaction is made by account, people are able to report about that.

In conclusion, this trend has merits and demerits. In my opinion it is easy to do payment by using mobile or card but it is risky. There are so many articles mentioned in newspapers everyday about electronic scams. However, carrying cash in pocket is bit challenging but safe to use in everyday life

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt: it discusses the likelihood of a cashless future and provides reasons why some people might be reluctant to adopt it. The position is clear throughout. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. While the personal anecdote about the furniture store is relevant, the explanation regarding elderly people and security concerns is a bit generic. To reach a higher band, you should aim to expand on the implications of these points rather than listing them. The conclusion is a bit repetitive and does not fully synthesize the arguments presented, but the task requirements are sufficiently met.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear central topic. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Moreso', 'Consequently', and 'On the other hand', though some are used mechanically or with slight inaccuracies (e.g., 'Number of individuals' instead of 'A number of individuals'). The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the referencing is sometimes weak, such as in the final paragraph where the connection between the conclusion and the body paragraphs feels slightly disjointed. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different aspects of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'sophisticated technology' and 'merits and demerits'. However, there are several instances of word-choice errors and awkward collocations, such as 'rapid evolving world' (should be 'rapidly evolving'), 'scam activities were reported' (should be 'scam activities have been reported'), and 'unnecessary payments' (which is vague). While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the response from reaching a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, particularly with articles ('the furniture store'), subject-verb agreement ('he have to wait'), and verb tenses ('cash payments will be completely replace'). Additionally, there are persistent errors with homophones and word forms, such as 'there' instead of 'their' and 'is individuals lost there wallet'. While the meaning is generally clear, these frequent errors indicate a lack of control over complex structures, which limits the score for this criterion.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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