Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-10
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 today's time many people who are working in an organization or for a company are tired and stressed for their work. To overcome such problem many people decided to become a self-employed or work for their own.
As in company, there is a fixed time to get enter and if a second pass of that time then small amount was been cut from the person salary. Additionally, in organization the work load was very high and person have to complete the work on time which create stress for many people. It affect mental and physical health of a person. To overcome such problem people are getting self-employed. As in self-employed people have no stress to get on time for the work and manage their work load accordingly.
There are some drawback of being self-employed such as there are many skills which people can not improve while being self-employed such as teamwork, leadership and management skills. These skills are very important for the people to be developed in their life. For example, if a person working from home then he can have freedom but it did not get in an environments of company or organization and cannot available to know different people or how to manage to work with team on different projects. As in organization there are many rules which should be followed and by following such rules people can learn to be in disciplined in their life.
In my point of view, if person can able to work for a company then they should do so as by working for company can teach many skills which help person in their future.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| 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: reasons for choosing self-employment and the disadvantages of doing so. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. The reasons for self-employment are focused primarily on stress and time management, while the disadvantages are restricted to the lack of soft skills like teamwork. The ideas are relevant but lack depth and specific, well-developed examples. The position is clear, but the overall argument would benefit from more detailed exploration of the complexities involved in self-employment, such as financial instability or the lack of benefits, which are common points in this topic.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the progression of ideas. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and repetitive (e.g., 'As in...', 'To overcome such problem...'). There are instances where the logical flow is slightly hindered by awkward phrasing, such as the transition between the benefits of self-employment and the drawbacks. While the paragraphing is functional, the internal cohesion within paragraphs could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words and better referencing to connect sentences more fluidly.
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 a reliance on basic vocabulary and some repetitive phrasing (e.g., 'work', 'people', 'company'). Some word choices are imprecise or non-standard, such as 'get enter' instead of 'arrive' or 'clock in', and 'cannot available to know' which is grammatically and lexically awkward. To improve, the student should focus on using more precise collocations and a broader range of topic-specific vocabulary related to employment and professional development.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('person have to', 'it affect'), incorrect verb tenses ('if a second pass', 'people decided'), and awkward sentence construction ('if person can able to work'). Punctuation is generally functional, but the frequency of errors in basic grammar prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. The student needs to focus on consistent tense usage and proper sentence construction to improve accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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