Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-27
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 many people choose to be self-employed, rather than to work for a company or organization due to the toxic work enviornment of the companies.
Companies or organization have developed toxic work environment to stay in this competitive market. They have increased working hours and reduced employee benefits.
Another reason for people to prefer to be self employed is due to the increase their income. If they work in companies or organization no matter how hard they work, they have a fixed income. In the modern era, where competition is high and there is a lot of man power, for even a small position in a company or organization there are a lot of candidates.
Especially, women do not prefer working for a company or organization. This is mainly due to the double work load of women. Women these days have to do household chores as well as earn their living. Their household responsibilities limit their mobility and companies usually does not offer flexible working hours or benefits like maternity leave.
Keeping all these things in mind people these days prefer to be self employed so they can work on their own conditions and have better earning opportunities.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses both parts of the prompt, identifying reasons for self-employment and touching upon the disadvantages (implied through the desire for flexibility). However, the essay is significantly under-length at 198 words, which prevents a full development of ideas. The second part of the prompt—the disadvantages of being self-employed—is largely ignored, as the essay focuses almost exclusively on the benefits. To reach a higher band, you must provide a balanced discussion that explicitly details the drawbacks, such as financial instability or lack of benefits, and ensure the response meets the 250-word minimum requirement.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into short paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the progression of ideas. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite limited and repetitive. For example, the phrase 'companies or organization' is repeated frequently, and there is a lack of linking words to connect sentences and ideas smoothly. The transition between the reasons for self-employment and the potential disadvantages is missing, making the overall structure feel disjointed. Improving the use of transition signals like 'furthermore', 'consequently', or 'on the other hand' would significantly improve the flow.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but remains quite basic and repetitive. You frequently use the same phrases, such as 'companies or organization' and 'toxic work environment'. There is little attempt to use less common lexical items or idiomatic language. To improve, try to vary your vocabulary by using synonyms and more precise academic collocations. For instance, instead of repeating 'companies', you could use 'corporate entities', 'traditional workplaces', or 'commercial firms'. Spelling errors, such as 'enviornment', also detract from the overall quality.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay relies mostly on simple sentence structures. While there are some attempts at complex sentences, they are often marred by grammatical errors, such as 'companies usually does not offer' (subject-verb agreement error) and 'due to the increase their income' (incorrect prepositional phrase structure). Punctuation is generally functional, but the range of grammatical structures is narrow. To achieve a higher score, you should practice using a wider variety of complex sentence forms, such as conditional clauses or passive voice, while ensuring subject-verb agreement and correct article usage.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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