Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-22

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)

Today a lot of individuals want to be the boss, instaed of working under someone in a company or organization.

Overall, people are becoming more self aware of their surroundings and more observant. Because, they think working under someone is a waste of time and skills. Mostly because of the poor salary provided by their employer and being stuck at the same position for years. despite putting their best skills into use.

First off, most talented people tend to avoid working under someone who does not vaule their skills. They would rather start their own business which would give them a strong future and better working conditions that are really difficult to achieve when employed by someone else. For example, a student who specialized in computer science could set up his own business like a telecom company instead of working under a company. As a result, working hours and management of company becomes way easier for its founder because of its familar framework.

Although, self-employment has a lot of advantages but there are also a lot of downsides to this trend. People who lack experience but have certificates and degrees may need to attend workshops to put their learned theory into practice before they start a buisness of their own .Running a buisness requires a lot of self discipline and effort which experts

with a lot practical knowledge may be more capable to do than new comers. for example, someone who starts a business without any knowledge of management and money may not succed as expected . A teacher with no experience of teaching cannot own a school and become principal without proper training and proceedures required to become one.

As a result, the teaching system implemented by this person may fail badly.

In conclusion, people choosing to be self employed need to take precautions before they start a business but in my perspective working under a company in not bad as long as its environment is

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by explaining why people choose self-employment and outlining the potential disadvantages, such as lack of experience and management challenges. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, some ideas are a bit repetitive or under-developed, and the conclusion is abruptly cut off mid-sentence. Examples like the computer science student and the teacher attempting to run a school are relevant, but the reasoning occasionally over-generalises. Overall, the task is adequately handled, corresponding to Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with logical paragraphing separating the introduction, reasons for self-employment, disadvantages, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, but some transitions are faulty or mechanically applied, such as 'Because, they think...' starting a sentence incorrectly, and 'Although, self-employment has a lot of advantages...' using contrasting conjunctions loosely. Paragraph sequencing is logical, but referencing and sentence linking occasionally falter, leading to a Band 6.0 placement.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common phrases such as 'self-aware', 'familiar framework', and 'self-discipline'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('instaed', 'vaule', 'familar', 'buisness', 'succed') and occasional word-choice inaccuracies. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5, as precision and spelling control are compromised in several places.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some capability with subordinate clauses ('People who lack experience...'). However, punctuation and grammatical errors are frequent. Examples include sentence fragments ('Because, they think working under someone is a waste...'), capitalization and comma placement issues, and the unfinished final sentence. These errors require some effort from the reader to parse, placing the grammar performance firmly at Band 5.5.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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