Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-15

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)

These days lot of people prefer to work in their own company, instead of getting employed at other sector or organisations this is because we have plenty of business oppertunities. while there are lots of benefit working for self. But as a owner of Company one should take a burden and great responsibilty in bulding the own company and also it may result in the shortage of worker for other organizations.

In this current situations, with increasing population on the earth and developed technologies, we have lots of opportunities ahead of it and business minded people can easily grab a chnace to start own a company and be his own boss. For instance in Australia lot of ABN holder has registered business name as sole trader and strated earning good amount working on their own espicially in cleaning industries.Therefore i believe those people with good commercial ideas initally begin to work for themself.

Having said that, if everyone draws attention towards starting thier own companies there would be lot of problems like labour shortages over major industries not only that people will be less intrested working under other business. Another personal drawbacks is that business owner has to undergo multiple stress building and looking for profits in business otherwise a sudden loss would result in loss of whole family asset. For an example a cleaning business owner has responsibility for searching clients paying huge amount of money to google aids as well as upgrading company brand. Therefore i feel being owner is also not peace way of earning in life.

In conclusion, though being self employed has multiple benefits for self but it has also negative effects of losing worker in bigger companies not only that business owner has to undergoes numerous mental conflict.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing the reasons why people choose self-employment, such as business opportunities, and outlining disadvantages like stress, financial risks, and potential labour shortages in other industries. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and occasionally simplistic, such as the brief mention of ABN holders in Australia. The supporting examples are relevant but lack depth, preventing the response from achieving a higher band. Overall, all prompt requirements are met adequately, positioning this firmly at a Band 6.0 level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear four-paragraph structure comprising an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, transitional phrases like 'Having said that' and 'Therefore i believe' are occasionally misused or punctuation is missing, such as lowercase letters at the start of sentences and after periods. Referencing is generally clear, but the logical progression within paragraphs could be smoother to avoid abrupt shifts between ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'commercial ideas', 'sole trader', and 'labour shortages'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('oppertunities', 'responsibilty', 'bulding', 'chnace', 'espicially', 'initally', 'thier', 'intrested', 'undergoes') and awkward word choices ('peace way of earning', 'mental conflict'). These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they occur frequently enough to prevent the score from reaching Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout the text. There are frequent punctuation and capitalization errors, such as starting sentences with lowercase letters ('Therefore i believe') and missing commas. Additionally, run-on sentences and minor structural slips occur, such as 'lots of benefit working for self' and 'start own a company'. While the meaning remains mostly clear despite these errors, they pull the grammatical score down to a Band 5.0.

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