Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-21

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 recent times, many individuals wanted to work by themselves instead of working for any franchise. This happen because of freedom, but working by self employed is quite risky.

The main reason people choose self employed is flexibility. For instance, a person can set their own hours to spend their time with

family. Moreover, they are the boss so, they can make their own rules and regulations and make their decisions without asking anyone else.

However, being self employed can be very difficult and risky. There is no guaranteed monthly paychecks which can cause the stress. Also, if a self employed persons gets sick ,they do not get any paid for their time off. They also have burden of handling all the business risks.

In conclusion, people choose self employed because they love independence and freedom. Even so ,they must prepare for unstable income and lack of public benefits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, identifying reasons for self-employment and its disadvantages. However, the essay is significantly under the 250-word minimum requirement, which severely limits the development of ideas. The points made—such as flexibility and lack of benefits—are relevant but remain superficial. To achieve a higher band, you must expand on your arguments with more detailed explanations and concrete examples. Because the response is only 149 words, it fails to meet the basic length requirement, which prevents a full development of the task and results in a lower score for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is organized into three short paragraphs, which is a basic structure. There is some attempt at logical progression, using transition words like 'Moreover' and 'However'. However, the cohesion is quite mechanical and the overall flow is hindered by the brevity of the text. The referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the phrase 'working by self employed', which is grammatically awkward and disrupts the flow. To improve, focus on using a wider range of cohesive devices and ensuring that each paragraph contains a fully developed main idea supported by evidence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for basic communication but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on repetitive phrasing, such as 'self employed' and 'working'. There are also errors in word formation and collocation, such as 'working by self employed' instead of 'being self-employed' and 'get any paid' instead of 'get paid'. To improve, you should aim to incorporate more sophisticated vocabulary related to business and employment, and pay closer attention to the correct form of words in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity, such as 'This happen because of freedom' (subject-verb agreement) and 'a self employed persons gets sick' (plural/singular mismatch). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with spacing around commas. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of basic grammatical errors limits the score. You should focus on mastering subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles and plural forms to improve your accuracy.

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

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