Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-17

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 4.5)

The given argument, the possibility of paying only by credit cards and phones and not having an option to use cash to buy is concerning by looking at the shift in adoption of digital payments by shops This essay will discuss why some people will still believe physical currency is must and not rely entirely on digital is the way going forward.

The main reason that will contribute to the fact of not transitioning into fully digital era is awareness of people as experts raising how concerning the capability of technology to track the location, identity and targeting of advertisements thereby by companies to expose the desire of certain product purchase. There's also speculation that government officials and banks want people to use digital method of payment more to control the system. The perfect example is the credit card rewards and bonuses to an individual on signup and

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response identifies a relevant concern: people may resist digital payments because of tracking, advertising, and perceived control by banks or governments. However, it addresses the prompt only minimally. The question asks both whether cash will disappear and why some people would oppose that change; your opening mentions the possibility, but you do not give a clear, developed answer about whether it will happen. The reasons are also left unexplained, and the credit-card example stops before showing how it supports your point. The response is 148 words, below the required 250, so several parts of the task remain undeveloped. State your position directly, then explain and illustrate each reason.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is an attempt to organise the response, beginning with an introduction and moving to a paragraph about reasons for resisting digital payments. The phrase “The main reason” signals a shift, and the ideas about tracking and control are broadly related. However, the response ends mid-sentence (“and”), so there is no completed example, conclusion, or clear overall progression. Connections between ideas are also unclear: the link between tracking, advertising, government control, and credit-card rewards needs to be explained rather than left for the reader to infer. Use separate paragraphs for your position, reasons, and conclusion, and connect each example explicitly to the point it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt some topic-specific vocabulary, including “digital payments,” “physical currency,” “track,” and “credit card rewards,” which helps communicate the subject. There is also some effort to use less common phrasing, such as “targeting of advertisements.” However, several expressions are awkward or imprecise, including “the shift in adoption,” “the fact of not transitioning,” and “the desire of certain product purchase.” These choices make parts of the argument difficult to follow, while “digital” and “people” recur without much variation. Aim for natural collocations and precise wording—for example, describe a “shift towards digital payments” and companies using data to “target consumers with advertisements.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts complex sentence structures, particularly in the long sentence beginning “The main reason,” and uses a range of clauses to explain concerns. However, control is inconsistent, and several sentences are difficult to parse. For example, “physical currency is must” is missing an article, while “not rely entirely on digital is the way going forward” has an unclear grammatical relationship between its parts. The opening sentence also runs on without clear punctuation, and the final sentence is incomplete. These problems sometimes obscure meaning. Build accuracy with shorter, complete sentences first, then add subordinate clauses; check articles, sentence boundaries, and whether each clause has a clear subject and verb.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.