Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-21
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)
Many people nowadays,choose to be self employed instead of working for a company. Working for yourself is pretty much flexible and easy than working for a company for fixed hour.The main reason is that people want to grow according to their own pace and their own needs rather than working for a company and putting extra efforts just to be promoted to a senior post.
Companies have their own policies so the people working with the compan have to abide by the rules and regulations of the company even if they don't like any of the rules. The working hours of the companies are fixed because of which it is extremely difficult to manage one's personal tasks in these hours. Also the companies are set up in big cities so the people living in villages or small towns have to spend hours travelling adding extra hours to their routines. Most importantly the growth in these companies depends on how much extra working hours does an employee has worked. These are the cases why many peple choose to be self employed.
But there is the other side of the coin as well. While it might look very flexible and easy to be self employed, it also demands strict time management, discipline and focus. One needs to ahve
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 attempts to address both parts of the prompt, explaining reasons why people choose self-employment, such as flexibility and avoiding strict company policies, while also beginning to touch upon disadvantages. However, the text stops abruptly mid-sentence due to being unfinished and under-length, reaching only 216 words against the 250-word minimum requirement. This negative impact on development means the second part regarding disadvantages is severely truncated and lacks full support or relevant examples. Consequently, the task is only partially addressed, leading to a score of 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The text shows an attempt at logical organisation with a discernible introduction and body paragraphs exploring different angles, such as 'The main reason is that...' and 'But there is the other side of the coin as well.' However, paragraphing is disrupted by the incomplete nature of the response. Cohesive devices are somewhat mechanical or repetitive, and referencing is occasionally unclear (e.g., 'these are the cases'). Progression is hindered by the abrupt ending, which limits the overall flow and structural integrity of the essay.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'self-employed', 'policies', 'regulations', and 'routines'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'easy than working' instead of 'easier than working' and spelling errors like 'peple' and 'ahve'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with limited success. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey basic ideas, but errors prevent it from reaching a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, such as 'While it might look very flexible and easy to be self employed, it also demands strict time management...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues throughout, including missing prepositions, comparative errors ('easy than'), and subject-verb agreement slips (e.g., 'the people working with the compan have'). Because the text is incomplete, the range of structures is restricted, but the errors present rarely completely obscure the intended meaning.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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