Moving to a Cashless Society · Advantages and Disadvantages
A complete IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 question with a model answer of 285 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 40 minutes. Write at least 250 words.
In some countries, banks and shops are encouraging people to pay only with cards or mobile apps, and physical cash is being used less and less. Do the advantages of moving towards a cashless society outweigh the disadvantages? Write at least 250 words.
How to approach it
- 01Read the prompt carefully — this version asks whether advantages outweigh disadvantages, so a weighted opinion is required
- 02State your overall verdict in the introduction and reinforce it in the conclusion
- 03Devote one body paragraph each to advantages and disadvantages, with roughly equal length
- 04Use concrete examples (queues, robbery, technology outages) rather than abstract claims
- 05Do not confuse this with 'discuss both views' — you are weighing pros and cons of one trend, not two competing opinions
- 06Close with an explicit weighted statement such as 'the disadvantages outweigh the advantages'
Model answer
285 words in 4 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
Across many parts of the world, paying with notes and coins is rapidly being replaced by cards, mobile wallets, and contactless apps. While this shift brings genuine benefits, I believe its disadvantages outweigh its advantages, mainly because vulnerable groups risk being excluded.
There are two clear advantages to going cashless. The first is convenience. Tapping a card or phone is faster than counting out coins, queues at the supermarket move more quickly, and travellers no longer need to change currency for every short trip abroad. Digital payments also make budgeting easier, since every transaction is automatically logged in an app for the customer to review. A second benefit is the reduction in certain kinds of crime. Without cash on premises, late-night shops, taxis, and small businesses become much less attractive targets for armed robbery, and tax fraud is harder when every payment leaves a digital trail.
However, the drawbacks are significant. The most serious is exclusion. Elderly people, recent migrants, homeless individuals, and many teenagers do not have bank cards or smartphones, and a cashless economy effectively shuts them out of everyday spending. A second disadvantage is dependence on technology. When a payment network or local Wi-Fi fails — as happened across Sweden during a regional outage in 2023 — entire towns can lose the ability to buy food until service is restored. There are also real privacy concerns, since every cashless transaction is recorded and can in principle be analysed by banks, employers, or governments.
In conclusion, while a cashless society offers speed and reduced street crime, the harm to vulnerable groups and the fragility of digital systems are larger. Overall, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, so a hybrid model that protects cash should be preserved.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 69 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
6 fewer than the median answer for this task type
4 words at the shortest, 31 at the longest
2 more than the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 17.8 words and vary by 9.6 words either side of that, running from 4 words to 31. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 6 of the 16 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
8 in total, spread across 3 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
however, while
because, since
in conclusion, overall
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 86 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 74 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 3 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Response
Cover both advantages and disadvantages with developed support, and give a clear weighted opinion as the prompt requires.
Coherence & Cohesion
Use four well-organised paragraphs with explicit signposting between advantages, disadvantages, and the final verdict.
Lexical Resource
Use precise vocabulary for finance, technology, and social inclusion, with appropriate evaluative language.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Use a range of complex structures including conditionals, concessive clauses, and comparatives accurately.
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