Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-17

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 5.5)

It is true that digital payment has become common for people in the future rather than paying by cash. Although this happen due to certain reasons, i believe that cash would not disaapear completly in future for certain people.

On the one hand, there are few reasons why people use online payment when they will buy anythings. First and the foremost, these days everyone has own smartphones so they always download apple pay and goggle pay in our phones that is why they can easily pay money with the online method. To explain, they have no nned to carry cash and coins with thm when they go outside because it hards for them to keep the cash safely in these time. Moreover, online payment not only save precious time for people but also feel secure. To ellaaborate, these days every person busy in our life. Therefore, they have no time to go outside for paying any bills such as electricity, laundry and many more because now they can pay while sitting at home instead of going there.

On the other hand, i opine that most of the people prefer to pay by cards due to few reasons. Firstly, older people have less knowledge regarding digital payment because they are unfamiliar with it so it has become obstacle for them to use online payment method in turn of which they would use traditional payment way. Apart from it, sometime digital payment would not working perfectly due to technical problem and maintainance so people would not use it for certain time since payment can be delay which can arise conflicts between people because sometime people do not understand that situations.

To conclude, while electronic payment would take first position to p[urchase anything, i believe that traditional way of payment can not be stopped due to some reasons.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing whether a cashless society will happen and exploring the reasons why some individuals might be unhappy to give up cash, such as technical failures and unfamiliarity among older generations. The writer establishes a clear position in the introduction and maintains it throughout the essay. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or repetitive, particularly in the first body paragraph where the discussion on time-saving and smartphones lacks specific, well-supported examples. The exploration of why people might dislike the transition could be extended with more depth. Overall, the content is relevant and fulfills the core requirements of the task, earning a solid Band 6.0 according to the descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, separating the introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Transitional markers such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'To conclude' are used to guide the reader through the structure. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen with pronoun confusion ('everyone has own smartphones so they always download apple pay and goggle pay in our phones'). Furthermore, logical progression within the first body paragraph is slightly disrupted by shifting ideas abruptly between smartphone convenience and paying bills at home. These features place the response firmly at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases like 'technical problem', 'traditional payment way', and 'precious time'. However, there are numerous lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, including 'disaapear completly', 'goggle pay', 'nned', 'thm', 'hards', 'ellaaborate', and 'maintainance'. Word choices are occasionally inaccurate or unnatural, such as 'in turn of which' instead of 'consequently'. While communication is not severely impeded, these frequent inaccuracies prevent the vocabulary score from reaching higher bands. This performance aligns well with the Band 5.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures such as 'Although this happen due to certain reasons, i believe that...' and 'while electronic payment would take first position...'. However, there are persistent grammatical errors throughout the response, including subject-verb agreement issues ('this happen', 'digital payment would not working'), tense inconsistencies, and capitalization errors ('i'). Punctuation and article usage also show frequent flaws. Despite these issues, the meaning remains mostly clear to the reader, demonstrating the characteristics of a Band 5.0 performance.

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

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