Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)
Nowadays, many people prefer to run their own businesses instead of working for a company. In todays, individuals work themself for learning new skills and self development rather than works in corporate world. The essay discuss the cases of the this development and with describing drawbacks of learning self.
To begin with, working in a own company have fewer work load. People choose any working hours according to their preference. Many people starts earning themself because better work life balance. In addition, they can improve their relations and connections with international client. People can earn more money without any intermediator. Self-employed advantageous for society so they can now about their ability. Moreover, it helps them to keep ups with current trends and skills. Working themself improves globalization and communication skills. For instance, many individuals choose freelancing browser to work with an international clients they can assists them to earn more money and also support for personal and professional growth.
On the other hand, there are several drawbacks to working self-employed. Firstly, working themself have heavy workload and not fixed amount of salary. Secondly, financial risk involved. If business does not attract customers so owners may suffers significant financial losses. Moreover, people can ignore work due to flexibility. Their business sometimes fails to less management. In addition, self-employed people do not received any facilities such as paid leave, health insurance from employer, and pension or retirement benefits. For example, a small shop owner may earn less money if they are not customers.
In conclusion, although self-employed offers greater opportunities for owners either professional and personal and the chance to earn more money. However, sometimes people get financial depth due to less amount of customers and poor management.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for choosing self-employment and the potential disadvantages. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the points regarding 'work-life balance' and 'earning more money' are mentioned but not fully explored with depth. The introduction is slightly confusing due to grammatical errors, and the conclusion is a sentence fragment that does not effectively summarize the main points. While the response covers the requirements, the lack of sophisticated development and the presence of some unclear arguments keep this at a Band 5.5 level.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate, such as 'The essay discuss the cases of the this development'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the flow between sentences is occasionally disjointed. For example, the transition between the benefits of globalization and the specific example of 'freelancing browser' is abrupt and lacks logical connection. Paragraphing is present, but the internal structure of the paragraphs lacks the necessary cohesion to reach a higher band.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of awkward word choices and incorrect collocations, such as 'working themself', 'freelancing browser', and 'financial depth' (likely intended to be 'debt'). The student relies on basic vocabulary and struggles to use more sophisticated terms accurately. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequent errors in word formation and collocation prevent the response from achieving a higher score. Expanding the range of topic-specific vocabulary would significantly improve the quality of the writing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay contains a high frequency of grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The essay discuss', 'Many people starts'), incorrect pronoun usage ('work themself'), and missing articles. Sentence structures are mostly simple, and attempts at more complex sentences often result in errors that can cause some difficulty for the reader. Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly in the conclusion. While the message is understandable, the persistent errors in basic grammar and the limited control over complex structures indicate a performance consistent with Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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