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)

Nowadays, an increasing number of professionals are choosing self-employment rather than working for companies or organizations. This is mainly because self-employment provides greater freedom and flexibility, although it also has several disadvantages. What are the causes 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 toxic and unprofessional culture in some companies pushes back the real and honest worker, and some employees who flatter 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 clients send you texts late at night to fix any issue that sometimes is minor but mostly disturbs the employee's night routine. Sleepless nights create many health issues in the form of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, etc.

In conclusion, people may choose self-employment because it offers greater freedom and flexibility, although it can also make it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

AI examiner evaluation

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 limited. The explanation of why people choose self-employment relies on generalizations about 'toxic culture' and 'flattery,' which could be more nuanced. The disadvantages are mentioned, but the link between the 'price' of freedom and the specific health outcomes could be more thoroughly explored to reach a higher band. Overall, the position is clear, but the supporting arguments lack depth and specific, concrete examples.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand,' 'Furthermore,' and 'In conclusion' are used to signal the progression of ideas. However, the flow within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical. For instance, the transition between the discussion of workplace culture and the decision to work from home is slightly abrupt. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally repetitive, and the use of cohesive devices could be more varied to improve the overall flow and logical progression of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There is an attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary such as 'incentives,' 'unprofessional culture,' and 'work-life balance.' However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of imprecise word choice, such as 'pushes back the real and honest worker' or 'long-time pushback,' which sound unnatural. The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the message, but it lacks the sophistication and precision required for higher bands. More varied collocations and less common lexical items would improve the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'this is not a one-day or one-month behavior an employee faces of discouragement' and 'maybe clients send you texts.' Punctuation is generally functional, but some sentence constructions are awkward or slightly ungrammatical. The control of complex structures is inconsistent, and while these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. More attention to sentence variety and grammatical precision is needed.

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