Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-11

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 organisation. there are many reason to being self employed, although being self employed have many disadvantages.

one main reason people chose employment is freedom. because they do not follow the rules of boss all the times and can make their decisions . they can also choose there working hour and take break when they need. it is for especially who want spend more time with there family. and the second is that people choose employed because they can earn huge amount of money. for example, a person who starts a small online business can increase their income by getting more customers.

however, self employed have many disadvantages. the biggest problem is that income is not regular. but company employees have fixed salary . they receive a fixed salary on every month. but self employed can earn when they have fewer customers. They may also have to spend their own money on equipment, advertising and other business costs. Another disadvantage is that self-employed people have more responsibilities. They have to manage their customers, money, work schedule and other business matters themselves. As a result, they may feel stressed and have to work for long hours.

In conclusion, people choose self-employment because it gives them freedom, flexible working hours and the chance to earn more money. However, it can also cause financial problems and stress because there is no fixed income and more responsibility. Therefore, people should carefully think about both the advantages and disadvantages before becoming self-employed.

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 potential disadvantages. The ideas are relevant, covering freedom, flexible hours, and income potential, as well as the downsides like irregular income and increased responsibility. However, the development is somewhat basic. For instance, the point about 'earning huge amounts of money' is a bit simplistic and could have been supported with a more nuanced example. While the position is clear throughout, the explanation of ideas lacks depth, which prevents it from reaching a higher band. Overall, the task is fulfilled, but the arguments remain at a surface level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. There is a basic attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'however', 'for example', and 'as a result'. However, the flow is occasionally mechanical, and some transitions are repetitive or abrupt. The use of referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the phrase 'it is for especially who want spend more time', where the pronoun reference is weak. Paragraphing is present, but the internal cohesion within paragraphs could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words to connect ideas more fluidly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. The student relies on basic, repetitive terms like 'self-employed', 'money', and 'disadvantages'. There are some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'rules of boss' instead of 'rules set by a boss' or 'company employees have fixed salary' (missing an article). While the meaning is generally clear, the student does not demonstrate the ability to use less common lexical items or idiomatic expressions effectively. To improve, the student should focus on using more sophisticated synonyms and ensuring correct collocations in a business context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Common issues include missing articles ('a fixed salary on every month'), subject-verb agreement errors ('self employed have many disadvantages'), and punctuation mistakes. The sentence structure is often repetitive, and there are errors in word order and preposition usage. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to be noticeable and suggest a lack of control over more complex grammatical forms. Improving accuracy in basic sentence construction and article usage is essential.

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