Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)
Youngsters are starting their own business rather than working under any supervisor. It is argued that citizens select their own work, instead of work for any organization or company. It is because the job person has fixed amount of salary, whereas owners earn according to their work. I believe that self-employed has been controlled everything in their company.
Firstly, people start their own business to earn more than a job person. It is because salary person has worked from 9 to 5 and do not earn money according to their harkwork. For instance, a salary person earn 50,000 pkr in month, whereas owner earns this in a week. This is the reason why people choose to be self-employed in the modern era. Furthermore, lifestyle of self-employed persons motivate the other to start their own work rather than doing employment for someone.
Secondly, there are only few demerits of self-employed. The main disadvantage is that self-employed person has to manage everything in their company. This may cause the anxiety, work pressure. For example, Owner has checked to deliver the order on time, and also check the quality of product by self.
Moreover, self-employed person faces loss in the work, whereas job person knows that he get his pay on selected date. For example, if customer is not satisfy with products and ask for refund, then self-employed has faces the loss.
In conclusion, people choose to be self-employed because of earning, whereas self-employed has to face loss. A job person get pay on selected date.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing why people choose self-employment and outlining the disadvantages such as anxiety, workload, and financial risk. However, the development of ideas is limited and at times repetitive. For instance, the discussion of earning potential relies heavily on a single numerical example ('50,000 pkr in month') rather than fully exploring broader economic or psychological motivations. The position is generally clear throughout, but the arguments remain underdeveloped, which aligns best with Band 5.0 descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay is organised into paragraphs, using basic cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'In conclusion'. However, progression is frequently disrupted by awkward transitions and repetitive sentence structures. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as the ambiguous pronoun use in 'this may cause the anxiety' and 'self-employed has faces the loss'. Paragraphing is attempted, but some paragraphs are very brief and lack internal cohesion, resulting in a performance that fits the Band 5.0 criteria.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The lexical resource is limited and repetitive, with frequent word choice and collocation errors, such as 'salary person' instead of 'salaried employee' or 'employee', 'harkwork' instead of 'hard work', and 'does not earn money according to their harkwork'. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the basic meaning, but noticeable errors and awkward phrasing (e.g., 'self-employed has been controlled everything') cause some difficulty for the reader, matching the Band 5.0 descriptor profile.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but grammatical accuracy is weak throughout. There are frequent errors in verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and articles (e.g., 'a salary person earn', 'self-employed has faces the loss', 'if customer is not satisfy'). Complex structures are often faulty, and errors frequently cause strain or confusion for the reader, placing this response firmly at Band 4.5 to 5.0. Overall, control over basic grammar needs substantial improvement.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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