Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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 world, majority of people choose to be self-employed, rather than working for a company or organization. Being self- employed has its merits and demerits as they can grow and learn on there own pace without being humiliated by the companies or organisations.

These days, people are more leaned toward self employment as it offers comfort as well as respect and confidence. As confidence is a key to success, so they can grow there business and will learn things with time. For instance, if you started something, at first you might fail but you will obviously learn from your mistakes. This attitude will take them to the glory of success. In contrast, companies and organisations treat there employees as there own propert and misbehave with them. They do not give them credit for there work which makes them frustrated.

As there are merits of freelancing, there are disadvantages as well. Running a business might appear to be very charming but the one working independently has to be verycareful regarding the profit or loss as these are the main components on which he is running his business. For instace, if the business is in loss, he might have to bear it own his own. Furthermore, investment is the major concern here as to start a business, large amount must be available for salaries and other purposes as well.

In conclusion, self employment has both the advantages and disadvantages as it saves us from the constant humilation from the managemnet and gives a confidence whcih is required to be successful in running a business.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt by discussing why people choose self-employment and outlining the disadvantages, such as financial risk and investment needs. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, some ideas are somewhat underdeveloped or rely on overly sweeping generalisations, such as the claim that companies 'treat there employees as there own propert.' Additionally, the transition between personal growth and corporate mistreatment feels slightly abrupt. Despite these minor limitations in idea expansion, the prompt is fully covered, earning a solid Band 6.5 to 7.0 for Task Achievement. The content remains relevant and logically structured around the central themes.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, separating the introduction, reasons for self-employment, disadvantages, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'In contrast', 'For instance', and 'Furthermore', though referencing and transitions can be a bit mechanical at times (e.g., mixing pronoun references like 'they' and 'their'). Paragraph progression is logical, moving from advantages to disadvantages effectively. However, occasional awkward phrasing and mechanical cohesion limit the higher bands. It fits comfortably within the Band 6 descriptor due to its clear organisational structure and adequate paragraphing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'self-employed', 'freelancing', 'investment', and 'management'. However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'there' instead of 'their' ('there own pace', 'there employees'), 'leaned toward' instead of 'leaning towards', 'properst' for 'property', and 'humilation'. These lexical inaccuracies and persistent spelling mistakes occasionally draw attention, but they do not impede overall communication. The lexical control is indicative of a Band 5.5 to 6.0 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional structures ('if you started something, at first you might fail') and relative clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, such as missing articles ('a large amount must be available'), incorrect prepositions ('on his own' instead of 'on his own'), and minor tense inconsistencies. Punctuation is sometimes weak, particularly with commas in complex sentences. While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, their frequency prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. The grammar aligns well with the Band 5.5 criteria.

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.