Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-19

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)

In the recent days, a significant number of individuals prefer working for themselves rather than an employer. This essay will discuss the reasons for this trend and the dimerits of self-employment.

The main reason for self-employment is the desire for freedom and autonomy. This is the case when people need to decide for themselves when to take a break and loath the long process of applying for leaves. This can look tiresome and shameful in cases of people who are introverts in nature. As a result, they find immense convenience in the private sector whereby they are their own bosses and can take an off duty without undergoing streneous paperwork.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response is significantly under the required word count of 250 words, containing only 110 words. Consequently, the task is only partially addressed. While the essay introduces the topic and begins to discuss the reasons for self-employment, it fails to provide a balanced discussion of the disadvantages, which is a key requirement of the prompt. The ideas presented are underdeveloped, and the lack of length prevents a full exploration of the topic. To improve, you must ensure you provide a comprehensive response to all parts of the question and meet the minimum word count requirement to allow for sufficient development of your arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay shows a basic attempt at organization with an introduction and a body paragraph. However, the progression of ideas is limited due to the brevity of the text. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'As a result' and 'This is the case when', but the overall structure is incomplete. The paragraphing is insufficient because the essay ends abruptly without a conclusion or a second body paragraph to address the disadvantages. To improve, you should plan your essay to include a clear introduction, at least two distinct body paragraphs, and a conclusion, ensuring that ideas flow logically between sentences.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, but there are noticeable errors in word choice and spelling that affect the quality of the writing. For example, 'dimerits' is a misspelling of 'demerits', and 'off duty' is used incorrectly in this context. Phrases like 'loath the long process' and 'shameful in cases of people' are slightly unnatural. While you attempt to use some topic-specific vocabulary, the range is limited. To improve, focus on learning the correct spelling and collocations of academic terms and try to incorporate a wider variety of vocabulary to express your ideas more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. For instance, 'In the recent days' is an incorrect collocation, and 'streneous' is misspelled. There are also issues with phrasing, such as 'introverts in nature' and 'take an off duty'. While the meaning is generally clear, these errors occur frequently enough to be noticeable. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement, correct preposition usage, and proofreading for common spelling mistakes. Practicing complex sentence structures will also help you achieve a higher band score in this criterion.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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