Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Nowadays many people choose to be self-employed, rather than to work for a company or organisation.

Why might this be the case?

What could be the disadvantages of being self-employed?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

People nowadays want to be self-employed , rather than working on a company or organisation. Because people nowadays want to be more free, so they want to be self-employed.

In this modern times where people choose their freedom over more money, it is natural that they would want to be self-employed. Being self-emplyed means you are free to work whenever you feel comfortable to work. But if people work for any company or organisation, they have to follow tight timeline and busy schedules. Also in organisation there are work pressure and compitition which leds people to have anxity and mental pressure. Because of that many people think working on any company or organisation will ruin their peace in life, so they choose to be self-employed.

But in self-emplyement there are disadvantages, people who are self-emplyemt have punctuality issues because they are not very aware of time management. Sometime they can not work with others because of their tendancy on working alone, they lack teamwork skill which is needed in our daily life too. Self-employed people do not have any routine in their life. They lack decipline and over time they sometimes lose their peace because of their lonliness in work life. They often finds everything irritating around them. They suffers depression. Self-employed people sometime lack commucations skills.

There are people who are now suffering from depression because of their lonliness in work life. Doctors are suggesting to work with a team or organisation and communicate with people. A famous youtuber from Bangladesh who used to work in a software company has left the job and choose to be self-employed. Because he wanted to be more free and flexible with his working hours. He did not like the fact that someone is bossing around him. So he choose to be self-employed. Years later, his family members found him total depression and unable to communicate with other people comfortably, they went to the doctor. The doctor then suggested him to work with a team and try to communicate with people more.

Therefore we can say that, wanting to be free might be the main reason of being self-employed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both questions: it explains that freedom and flexible working hours attract people to self-employment, and identifies possible drawbacks such as isolation, weak teamwork, and difficulty maintaining a routine. The example of the Bangladeshi YouTuber helps illustrate both the motivation and a potential cost. However, the disadvantages are not all equally clear or well supported: claims that self-employed people generally lack punctuality, discipline, or communication skills are broad and need qualification or explanation. The conclusion also returns mainly to the reason people choose this work, rather than briefly weighing the disadvantages as well. Develop the main points with more precise reasoning and examples to make the response more complete and convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining the appeal of self-employment, a paragraph on disadvantages, an illustrative example, and a conclusion. This makes the main line of argument understandable. Some connections, however, are mechanical or unclear. For example, the opening uses a sentence fragment beginning “Because,” and the later paragraph about depression repeats the isolation point without clearly showing how it extends the previous discussion. The example is relevant but could be linked more explicitly to the general disadvantage it demonstrates. Use clearer topic sentences, avoid repeating the same point, and make the relationship between each example and claim explicit to improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses enough vocabulary to communicate its main ideas, including terms such as “flexible,” “time management,” “teamwork,” and “mental pressure.” However, the range is limited and several word choices, collocations, and spelling errors make the writing less precise. Examples include “tight timeline,” “bossing around him,” and repeated use of “free”; “lonliness,” “commucations,” and “decipline” are also misspelled. Some expressions are too sweeping, such as “They suffers depression,” which does not accurately express a general possibility. Build a wider set of topic-specific phrases and check spelling and word forms carefully. More precise language would help distinguish genuine disadvantages from unsupported generalisations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “because” and “which,” and the overall meaning is usually understandable. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly in sentence boundaries, agreement, and verb forms. For instance, “Because people nowadays want to be more free, so they want to be self-employed” combines two causal structures, while “They suffers depression” has incorrect subject–verb agreement. “A famous youtuber … has left the job and choose” also shifts verb form, and the opening “Because” sentence is incomplete. Practise forming complete sentences and checking that subjects and verbs agree and that verbs remain consistent within a clause. Greater accuracy in these areas would make the argument easier to follow.

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