Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-24

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)

Around the world, many people want to be not worker under any supervision they want their space to work hard and earn.

Although, It has some point of view I'll discuss here aswell.

First, about disadvantages there will be more work load and tension. They have to work alone. Main problem is financial issues because company employ have fixed salary at the end of month but in self employed there will be problem like if they don't have clients they will earn zero.Its only depends on luck and certain.

Secondly, self employed have to work alot like accounting, finance and many more . They work longer hours including weakened . They don't have options for paid sick leave and urgent work. This can lead to stress . So, they have to bear more as compared to company employ.

Thirdly, self employed can be socially isolated and work from home so they don't have colleagues fro sharing opinions, new ideas and support. while, in company people learn from group activities, teamwork and guidance from seniors which is missing in self employment.

Forthly, in a company you get promotion and more success but in self employed people don't have seniors so can get lost if they do not learn new skills.

Conclusion, while being self employed provide freedom and space but it brings financial risk . An, overwhelming work load may cause isolation and anxiety because you don't have much support in sense of financial and emotional and in learning way. so we have to check each and every aspect of job.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response attempts to address both parts of the prompt, exploring reasons why people choose self-employment, such as freedom and space, and detailing several disadvantages like financial risk, increased workload, and social isolation. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive, particularly regarding the reasons for choosing self-employment, which are touched upon only briefly in the introduction and conclusion. The discussion on disadvantages is more thoroughly extended across multiple body paragraphs, mentioning financial instability, longer hours, lack of paid leave, and social isolation, referencing practical aspects like clients and accounting. While all parts are addressed, the ideas are under-developed in places, placing this response at Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response shows some organization with basic cohesive devices used to sequence points, such as 'First', 'Secondly', 'Thirdly', and 'Forthly'. Paragraphing is attempted, with distinct paragraphs for different disadvantages, though the progression of ideas is disjointed at times. For instance, the transition between sentences can be abrupt, and referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in the phrase 'Its only depends on luck and certain'. Furthermore, the introduction and conclusion are very brief and lack smooth integration with the body paragraphs. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or inaccurate, which aligns the response with a Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, employing words like 'work', 'company', 'money', and 'people' frequently. There are noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'worker under any supervision', 'company employ' instead of employee, and 'weakened' instead of weekends. Attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'financially isolated' or 'overwhelming workload', show a limited but minimally adequate range. However, spelling and word-formation errors, such as 'Forthly' and 'self employed' used inconsistently, cause some difficulty for the reader, placing the lexical control solidly at Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control is weak, leading to frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues. Examples include run-on sentences and comma splices, such as 'Although, It has some point of view I'll discuss here aswell' and 'They work longer hours including weakened . They don't have options for paid sick leave and urgent work.' Errors involve subject-verb agreement ('self employed have', 'it only depends'), missing articles ('in self employed', 'in financial and emotional'), and incorrect prepositions. Because frequent grammatical errors can cause difficulty for the reader and complex structures are often faulty, this corresponds to a Band 5.0.

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