Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-03

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 these days , people are looking to find best opportunities for employment to support their families . Many individuals choose to be self employed because they want freedom in their jobs , while some prefer to work for a company where they can utilize their education in their practical field .

On the one hand , mostly individuals are learning various skills such as content creating , content writing , video editing and graphic designing . Because these skills are very crucial for someone who want to work from their home and earn enough expenses to manage their living expenses . People intend to work as self employ because they are not be able to tolerate the pressure of working from any organization . In addition , there are various disadvantages or self employ , the main one is that people can not use their education in their professional life .

On the other hand , people choose to work for an organization to attain skills regarding to their education . Working in a company can improve the personality of individual , because in any firm employ can learn various skills such as time management , punctuality and become more responsible . Employment in any firm can provide a chance to everyone to use their education in practical life . For example , a graduate of Doctor of pharmacy should work in pharmaceutical companies and healthcare settings to learn practically how to counsel the patients and how various department work to produce medicines .

On contrary , being self employ arise various issues such as lack of confidence and practical life skills . To my perspective , it is better for graduates to work in organization for improvement of their practical skills .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for self-employment and the disadvantages. However, the development is somewhat uneven. The reasons for choosing self-employment are mentioned (freedom, avoiding pressure), but the explanation remains superficial. The disadvantages are also touched upon, but the argument that self-employed people cannot use their education is a broad generalization that lacks nuance. The essay would benefit from more specific examples or deeper analysis of the challenges, such as financial instability or lack of benefits, rather than focusing primarily on the comparison with organizational employment. The position is clear, but the overall depth of the response is limited.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. For example, 'On contrary' is used incorrectly to introduce a concluding point, and the transition between ideas within paragraphs is sometimes abrupt. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the use of 'these skills' without a strong preceding link. While there is a logical progression from the reasons to the disadvantages, the lack of sophisticated linking words and the repetitive nature of some transitions limit the flow of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for a higher band. There is frequent repetition of basic terms like 'work', 'skills', and 'employment'. Some word choices are unnatural or incorrect, such as 'manage their living expenses' (usually 'cover living expenses') and 'self employ' used as a noun or adjective instead of 'self-employed'. The student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'pharmaceutical' and 'counsel', which is positive, but the overall lexical control is limited by frequent errors in collocation and word form.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in basic grammar, such as subject-verb agreement ('someone who want'), article usage, and prepositional phrases ('regarding to their education'). Punctuation is also problematic, with spaces consistently placed before commas and periods, which is incorrect. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors, particularly in basic sentence construction, prevents the text from reaching a higher band. More attention to proofreading for grammatical accuracy is needed.

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