Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-11-12

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)

Nowadays increasing trend of business among youngsters and huge competition for getting jobs, people want to became self-employed rather than working for organisation. While self-employment offers several disadvantages.

One of the main reason for individuals who choose self employment rather working for company is dissatisfied with salary and huge competition among youngsters to get high paying job. Sometimes companies are not paying enough to workers, and the organisations who pay more have a huge criteria of excellent skills. Even employee have to do work overtime and without getting extra wage. Furthermore, individuals choose freedom and work flexibely , rather than doing shift of 9 to 5 everyday. For example, they are self employed, they can take time off anytime without worrying about company leave policies and leave deductions. Individuals also show their creativity by building own business, for instance, selling own crafted paintings, being an nail and makeup artist. Unlike fixed salaries, self employed workers earn more by doing hard work.

However, there are disadvantages of being self-employed. Several reasons are financial instability and irregular income. For instance, traditional employees who get fixed salaries, where self employed do not have any stable income. For instance, a nail artist only get clients when any festivals are coming. For running stable business a person need to work hard and consistently, they are solo workers so they have to handle also aspects of the business like marketing, accounting and customer service.

In conclusion, earning by self working helps a person to be free and can work flexibely, with showing that creativity. However, there are several demerits like handling all aspects of the company and provide service anytime in the day.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both questions: it gives reasons for choosing self-employment, including dissatisfaction with pay, competition for jobs, flexibility and creative independence, and identifies financial uncertainty and the burden of managing several business functions as disadvantages. These points are relevant, and examples such as a nail artist help illustrate them. However, some ideas are more fully explained than others. The discussion of flexibility is supported with a specific example, while the claim that self-employed workers can earn more through hard work is asserted rather than explained. The disadvantage paragraph could also clarify how irregular income affects people beyond the brief example of seasonal clients. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation of its consequences.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, a paragraph explaining reasons, a paragraph on disadvantages and a conclusion. The contrast marker “However” helps signal the shift between the two sides, and examples are generally placed near the points they support. Some connections are less clear or repetitive: “For instance” appears twice in the disadvantage paragraph, and the opening sentence combines several ideas without a clear grammatical link. The conclusion also repeats the main points rather than bringing them together precisely. Use a wider range of linking expressions where they clarify relationships, and make sure each paragraph moves from a topic sentence to explanation and then evidence in a consistent order.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses a relevant range of vocabulary for the topic, including “financial instability,” “fixed salaries,” “customer service,” “creativity” and “leave policies.” These choices communicate the main ideas, and some topic-specific terms add useful precision. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “huge criteria,” “show their creativity” and “work flexibely.” Repetition of “self-employed,” “individuals” and “For instance” also limits flexibility. Aim to use more natural combinations and check spelling and word forms carefully. For example, “highly competitive requirements” would be clearer than “huge criteria,” while “express their creativity” is a more natural phrase in this context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

There is an attempt to use both simple and more complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “while,” “rather than” and “for instance.” The overall meaning is usually understandable, but some errors in sentence construction, agreement, articles and verb forms reduce accuracy. For example, “One of the main reason” needs a plural noun, and “a nail artist only get clients” has a subject–verb agreement error. The opening is a sentence fragment, while “While self-employment offers several disadvantages” is also incomplete and does not express the intended contrast clearly. Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and main verb, and check agreement and articles when editing.

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.