Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-16

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)

It has been a point of debate where many people believe that there many not be hard cash used for things to buy in shops, and all payments be made by using cards or smart phones. I personally believe the usage of cash will not be gone out of trend. There are multiple reasons behind it, such as old mindset, limited access to smart phones or technologies.

The first and foremost reason behind this could be mentality. To elaborate, there are many people who owns such mentality where they think hard cash is the only form of having money in the pocket while they shop espcially the older generation. In other words, there are many people who grown up using only paper money. Therefore, when they go for the shopping and shopkeeper or business owner enforce them to pay by card or net banking, they might give up shopping and may not buy the items from their shops. In addition, there are many people in the market who only shop by using the cash, and why is that? Because when they buy something in cash, they may get eligible for extra discounts or refund because they are not paying taxes on purchase. This is called "tax evasion", but people do it for their own benefits.

The second reason could be limited access to smart phones or unfamiliarity with modern technology. To delineate, there are many people across the world who are not much familiar with modern technology and might have limited access of smart phones or something. Thus, if hard cash might go out of the picture in future, they may start struggling to buy the basic items for their survivals.This may cause huge impact in the world.

To wrap up, yes, the prediction says that people may not be using the hard cash to shop in the future. However, I believe people will still be using paper money to buy groceries, clothes or anything to this matter, as advantages of shopping through electric money still has nor replaced the advantages of shopping through cash in their mind.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The candidate addresses both parts of the prompt: whether cash will disappear and why some people might not want to give it up. A clear personal position is presented and maintained throughout the essay. Ideas are extended with relevant explanations, such as the older generation's mindset and concerns regarding tax evasion or limited access to technology. However, some arguments lack deeper elaboration or real-world examples, keeping the response at a Band 6.0 level. The discussion is relevant and directly answers the prompt, yet the development remains slightly predictable and basic in parts.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into four distinct paragraphs with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to signal progression, such as 'The first and foremost reason', 'To elaborate', and 'The second reason could be'. However, some cohesive ties feel a bit mechanical or forced, and referencing is occasionally clunky, as seen in 'anything to this matter'. Paragraphing is handled appropriately, ensuring an overall coherent arrangement that guides the reader logically from one point to the next, fitting the criteria for Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The candidate displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating ideas with terms like 'mentality', 'unfamiliarity', and 'tax evasion'. There are, however, several noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'hard cash will not be gone out of trend', 'people who owns such mentality', and 'access of smart phones' instead of 'access to smartphones'. Spelling is generally accurate, but word choice inaccuracies and unnatural phrases prevent the response from reaching a higher band. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the intended meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional structures ('if hard cash might go out of the picture in future, they may start struggling'). There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('people who owns'), article errors ('the shopping'), and awkward phrasing ('there many not be'). While these errors are noticeable and require the reader to occasionally pause, they do not severely impede overall communication, placing the grammatical performance solidly at a Band 5.5 level.

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

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