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)

Several factore explain why people tends to choose a self-employment rather than a conventional job or joining a company.

One of them is the fact that the technology and internet has erased the barrier to find client or bussiness around the globe and service providers are no longer dependant on the companies. They can reach out to the client by themself, make contract and provide services in return of which they can get direct reward which is much higher then the sallary a company would have given.

Another important reason is flexiblity in the work. People are drawn toward self-employment as it offer flexibilty in working hours in comparison to nine to five company working hours that allows them to manage work more efficeintly and conviently along with their other chores. In addition to flexible time, it also allows them to work according to the professional abilty and biasness rather than the tasks asigned by the employer.

There can be several disadvantages of being self-employed out of which job security is top of them. Self employed people are more exposed to changes and demands of the international market. Any fluctuation can cause them to loose their source of income or trend shifts in the demand can complety vanish their niche that can cause a stress in startups or remrging bussineses, while doing a job with a company provides you a stable income and job security despite the market conditions.

Companies provide insruances , loans, fund and retirements benifits while a freelancer is responsible for planning all of it by themself.

So given that, self employment provides you bigger market , higher profits and rewards with flexible working hours but with a cost of job security.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the reasons for choosing self-employment, such as technological advancements and work flexibility, and the disadvantages, including job security and the lack of corporate benefits. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed, although some points like the mention of 'biasness' are slightly unclear or under-developed. Examples and reasoning are provided adequately, such as contrasting nine-to-five corporate hours with flexible scheduling. Overall, the task is successfully covered, aligning well with the Band 6.5 or Band 7 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a logical overall progression, moving clearly from reasons for self-employment to disadvantages, and concluding with a summary. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as technological reasons, flexibility, job insecurity, and benefits. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes basic or repetitive, relying heavily on transitional phrases like 'Another important reason is' and 'In addition to'. Referencing is generally clear, though minor mechanical cohesion issues exist, such as the sudden shift into the final summary sentence. These features place the response firmly in the Band 6.0 to 6.5 range.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'conventional job', 'service providers', 'niche', and 'fluctuation'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'factore' instead of factors, 'tends' instead of tend, 'bussiness' instead of business, 'efficeintly', 'conviently', 'abilty', 'biasness' instead of preferences or biases, 'insruances', and 'benifits'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, their frequency prevents the score from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over relative clauses and conditional-like structures (e.g., 'Any fluctuation can cause them to loose their source of income'). However, grammatical accuracy is hindered by frequent errors in spelling, subject-verb agreement ('factore explain', 'technology and internet has'), word forms ('loose' instead of lose, 'remrging' instead of emerging), and prepositions. While complex sentences are attempted, errors in punctuation and grammar occasionally distract the reader, though they rarely impede comprehension completely. This performance corresponds to a Band 5.5.

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.