Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-18

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 the modern times, more poeple are chossing to be self-employed rather than becoming an employee for a company or an organization. This decision can be based off several factors. It also has certain drawbacks.

Firstly, a person might choose to be self-employeed if he quits his job based on fullfilment of his life goals. An employee can quit his job of 10 years to work completly remotely. This gives him the ability to maintain work-life balance. It allows him to spend more time to spend with the family, more time to try new hobbies, more time to discover new skills, all while being able to work freely with less obligations.

However, there are always drawbacks to being self-employed. Unlike a real job, where people receive their paychecks monthly, self-employment is notorious for unpredicatibilty and unstable income, a person can get payed very well one day, and can get payed none the other day. There are many other risks to consider when entering self-employment for the first time, such as competition, where "experienced" freelancers dominate plaforms attracting much clients as possible, while overshadowing newbies who already have a hard time setting reliable plans for themselves.

To conclude, one must think carefully before getting self-employed, By creating a good plan, seeing potential oppurtunities, analysing difficulties and carefully executing the plan, you are setting the foundations of your own business plan that gurantees a secondary income stream in addition to your main job, especially at a stage where you haven't reached your financial stability yet.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing why people choose to be self-employed, such as achieving life goals and maintaining a work-life balance, and highlights disadvantages like unpredictable income and market competition. The position is generally clear throughout the text, and ideas are extended with relevant examples, such as quitting a job to work remotely. However, some arguments lack deeper elaboration, and the conclusion introduces a slightly contradictory point about self-employment guaranteeing a secondary income rather than a primary one. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fitting the criteria for Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing the prompt's two main questions, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. Cohesive devices are employed to link sections, such as 'Firstly' and 'However', but some transitions feel mechanical or slightly faulty, as seen in the run-on structure of the final paragraph where multiple clauses are joined solely by commas. Referencing is generally clear, but the logical progression suffers slightly in the conclusion due to the shift in focus regarding financial stability. This performance aligns with a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and phrasing such as 'work-life balance', 'unpredictable', and 'freelancers'. However, there are notable spelling errors throughout the response, including 'poeple', 'chossing', 'self-employeed', 'fullfilment', 'completly', 'unpredicatibilty', 'payed', 'plaforms', 'oppurtunities', and 'gurantees'. While these errors do not severely impede communication, their frequency prevents the score from reaching a higher band. The lexical control is characteristic of a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional and participial phrases such as 'By creating a good plan... you are setting the foundations'. There are several grammatical errors and punctuation issues, including run-on sentences in the conclusion and awkward phrasing like 'based off several factors' instead of 'based on'. However, the majority of simple sentences are clear, and the errors only rarely impede overall communication. This balance of structures and error frequency corresponds to a Band 6.0.

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