Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-25

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)

In today's contemporary world, many countries facing challenges in the terms of to solve the employment issue which is rise day-by-day in this developed society. In this modern era, an increasing number of people consider to be self-employed, instead of to work with any firm or organisation. In this essay I will discuss both view that way many people prioritize independency as well as what is the disadvantages of being self-employed before presenting my own opinion.

First of all, the main significant reason behind why most individuals like to work on his or her choice is that they mostly gives high value to independency, rather than more money or professional career. For instance, some people work on fiverr, upwork, or on goro.come from their home as a freelancers, and don't reilly on any type of company or organization. This why they choose work from home, because they prioritize self-employment and freedom.

In general, many people who work from their home can also face some difficulties in the terms of network unavailability, lack of digital resources, and limited knowledge about the internet, and it's uses. similarly in many underdeveloped countries such as, pakistan, india, Afghanistan, and so on, maybe there will be many experts people to work from their home, but these limitation can limit their abilities from the global market, which are the major challenges and disadvantages.

In my point of view, people from many countries work independently, rather than with a company or organization, and we don't see any disadvantages of self-employed personalities, but it boots the country economy and he or she support their families as well.

In conclusion, certain individuals doing remote jobs from their home, and they are satisfied from their work. In contrast they also face some challenges to do work from home. In general, freelancers provide paid services to over around the world, and they get their funds from this side, without working with any particular firm.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

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 superficial. While you mention independence as a reason, the explanation is brief. The section on disadvantages touches on infrastructure issues in specific countries, but the argument lacks depth. Furthermore, your conclusion contradicts your body paragraph by stating you 'don't see any disadvantages,' which undermines the task requirement to discuss them. To improve, ensure your position is consistent throughout and provide more detailed examples or logical explanations for each point raised.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. For example, 'In contrast they also face some challenges' is used at the end of the essay, but the connection to the previous sentence is weak. Additionally, the transition between the introduction and the body paragraphs is somewhat abrupt. While there is a logical progression, the lack of sophisticated linking words and occasional awkward phrasing makes the flow feel disjointed at times. Improving the variety and precision of your transition signals would significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. You rely on basic terms like 'good' or 'difficulties' and repeat phrases such as 'work from their home' and 'company or organisation' multiple times. There are also some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'experts people' instead of 'expert individuals' and 'boots the country economy' instead of 'boosts the country's economy.' To achieve a higher score, try to incorporate more topic-specific vocabulary related to employment and economics, and focus on using words in their correct grammatical form.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'they mostly gives'), incorrect preposition usage (e.g., 'in the terms of to solve'), and awkward sentence construction (e.g., 'many countries facing challenges'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement would be a great starting point for improvement.

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

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