Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-26
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)
"As the needs for human beings increase day by day, job persons focus on self-employment rather than on working in an organization. Self-employment may give liberty to persons, but at the same time their pay also increases due to the increase of income, but what are the cases and disadvantages of being self-employed? It depends upon the conditions around them.
On the one hand, every person wants freedom, whether in making decisions or in earning, and does not want to work for any boss or in an organization. Mostly in organizations, employees face many issues regarding their pay as well as incentives. The leg-pulling and back-biting culture in some companies pushes back the real and honest worker, and some employees who did buttering of their superiors gain promotions and incentives. Additionally, this is not a one-day or one-month behavior an employee faces of discouragement but a long-time pushback, which creates a way to choose the self-employed path and work online from home or anywhere they want.
Furthermore, a self-employed person is free to work, and there is no fixed schedule, but every act has a price, and the self-employed person pays the price in the form of sleepless nights, no fixed daily time, and health issues. As online work has no fixed time, maybe employees send you texts late at night to fix any issue that sometimes takes a minor but mostly disturbs the employee's night routine. Sleepless nights create many health issues in the form of high blood pressure, diabetes, fatty bodies, etc.
In conclusion, self-employment gives liberty to individuals and more finance, but it needs proper planning to maintain work-life balance and good health. For this, employees should maintain balance between their work and personal life." evaluate
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the reasons for choosing self-employment and the disadvantages. The ideas are relevant, focusing on autonomy and workplace culture as drivers, and health/work-life balance as drawbacks. However, the development is somewhat superficial. For example, the discussion on 'leg-pulling' and 'buttering of superiors' is informal and lacks the analytical depth expected at higher bands. The introduction is slightly confusing, as it poses the prompt's questions back to the reader rather than clearly outlining the essay's scope. To improve, ensure that each point is supported by more formal, well-reasoned arguments rather than anecdotal or colloquial observations.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are present, such as 'On the one hand,' 'Furthermore,' and 'In conclusion,' which help guide the reader through the argument. However, the flow within paragraphs is occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing and repetitive sentence structures. For instance, the transition between the benefits of freedom and the drawbacks of health issues is a bit abrupt. The use of referencing is generally clear, but the overall progression of ideas could be smoother if the links between sentences were more sophisticated and less mechanical.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the precision and sophistication required for a higher band. There is an over-reliance on informal or non-standard collocations, such as 'job persons,' 'leg-pulling,' and 'buttering of their superiors.' These expressions are not appropriate for an academic essay. While the student successfully communicates their meaning, the range of vocabulary is limited, and there is little evidence of less common lexical items used with accuracy. To reach a higher band, the student should focus on using more formal, academic synonyms and improving their grasp of natural English collocations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Examples include 'the needs for human beings increase,' 'this is not a one-day or one-month behavior an employee faces of discouragement,' and 'fatty bodies.' Punctuation is generally functional, but some sentences are clunky and lack grammatical precision. While the meaning is usually clear, the frequency of errors in basic sentence construction and word order prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and more accurate sentence formation would be beneficial.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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