Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-05
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 5.0)
At present numerous individual choose to be self employed instead of doing work under any one supervision in my opinion high stress and overworking promote self employed working while there are some disadvantage i discuss in the fourth coming paragraphs
Predominantly the intense competition between many companies leads to excessive work . overworking increase the stress of individuals it leads many tensions and problems as a result many people do not get sufficient leisure time for spending with their families and friends so they decided to be single employee apart from it inflation rate is increase day by day company give fix salary of month they do not get satisfactory income to complete their daily expenses . individuals not save enough money for their future life hence they decided to run their own work and became full time single employee
Moreover be a single employee worker is would some demerits firstly big demerit is they do. Not have a big investment for starting their own work people more and more suffer from to. borrow money from other there individual fail to start their own setup however after deciding to be single employee people loss the fix salary that they recieve by management staring own business have risk of getting fail as a result they occur from big economic loss that leads to disease like depression
In conclusion low salary wages and overworking in same pay due to high competition leads to be single employee although it have demrit like loss of fix income require big investment for running their own stepup
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for self-employment and the disadvantages. However, the development of ideas is limited. The explanation regarding why people choose self-employment (stress and low salary) is somewhat repetitive and lacks depth. The disadvantages are mentioned, such as the lack of fixed income and the need for investment, but these points are not fully extended or supported with concrete examples. The position is clear, but the overall argument lacks the sophistication required for a higher band. The essay structure is present, but the content remains at a surface level throughout.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay is organised into paragraphs, which is a positive feature. However, the use of cohesive devices is mechanical and often inaccurate. For example, the transition 'apart from it' is used awkwardly, and the connection between sentences is frequently disjointed. There is a lack of logical progression between ideas, making the text feel like a series of loosely connected statements rather than a cohesive argument. The referencing is sometimes unclear, and the punctuation errors—such as missing full stops or incorrect capitalisation—further disrupt the flow of the text.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary is limited and repetitive. The student frequently uses the phrase 'single employee' to refer to a self-employed person, which is an inaccurate collocation. Other errors include 'fourth coming' (forthcoming), 'fix salary' (fixed salary), and 'staring own business' (starting). The range of vocabulary is insufficient to express complex ideas precisely. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequent word-choice errors and the reliance on basic, often misused terminology prevent the response from reaching a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response contains frequent grammatical errors that often impede readability. There are significant issues with subject-verb agreement ('inflation rate is increase'), missing articles, and incorrect verb forms ('people loss the fix salary'). Sentence structures are largely simple or contain errors when attempting complexity. Punctuation is inconsistent, with many run-on sentences and missing periods, which makes the text difficult to follow. The control of grammar is weak, and the errors are pervasive throughout the response, significantly affecting the clarity of the message.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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