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. This trend is driven by the desire for autonomy, yet it carries significant risks regarding work-life balance and health.

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 demotivates the real and honest worker, and some employees who flatter their superiors gain promotions and incentives. Additionally, this type of discouragement is not usually temporary; it can continue for a long time and eventually encourage employees to become self-employed.

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: reasons for choosing self-employment and the disadvantages involved. The position is clear from the introduction. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the discussion on why people choose self-employment focuses heavily on the negative aspects of traditional employment (toxic culture, flattery) rather than the positive attributes of self-employment itself. The disadvantages are mentioned, but the explanation of health issues is a bit repetitive. To reach a higher band, the response would benefit from more balanced development and specific, concrete examples rather than general statements about 'flattery' or 'toxic culture'.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'On the one hand', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the flow between sentences could be smoother. The paragraphing is appropriate, and each paragraph has a central topic. The referencing is generally clear, though the connection between the 'toxic culture' argument and the decision to become self-employed could be more tightly linked to ensure a more cohesive progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task and allows for clear communication. There is an attempt to use some less common items like 'autonomy', 'incentives', and 'demotivates'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of slightly unnatural phrasing, such as 'earning' used as a noun in this context or 'the real and honest worker'. The word choice is generally functional but lacks the precision and sophistication required for higher bands. Expanding the range of collocations and topic-specific vocabulary would improve the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical errors, such as 'every act has a price' (which is slightly awkward in this context) and 'maybe clients send you texts', which is informal. Punctuation is generally correct, but some sentence constructions are slightly clunky. While the errors do not impede communication, the range of complex structures is limited, and the control over them is not consistent enough for a higher band. A greater variety of complex grammatical forms would enhance the overall quality.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.