Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-28

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)

Many people these days choose to be self-employed, rather than working in a company or an organisation.

There are many pros associated with the case such as, a person wants freedom at work, he wants to pursue his own desires, he want to set up his own firm or buisness, he can set up his own rules and regulatations without someone judging him.

For instance My uncle who recently graduated dropped the idea of applying for big companies for position as associate instead he started working on his own venture on his own buisness idea which he planned since he was a student. Though there were some difficulties at start like no proper financial support, moral support and belief in him still he emrged victorious in his buisness with multiple buisness locations across the country.

There are alot of cons as well for a person planning of being self-employed rather than working at a company the most notable include the person can become bankrupt if his ideas fail, if he is not a good speaker and presenter his ideas might fail, It requires a lot of initial funding, It requires lot of good support to charge ahead, people do not respect a person who is self-employed unless he is successful.

For example My neighbor's son who recently completed his masters planned to set up a buisness by rejecting the idea of working at a large firm. He started the buisness with selling of coconuts across India, initially he was warned not to do as this is an expertise field and amateurs have a risk, initially he started with placing the order and everything went on smoothly until when he recieved a call saying no order has reached my warehouse placed 2 months back when he checked on with the local transporters and sellers he got to know he was duped resulting in loss of money and a lot of debt to be paid back.

Hence I conclude that being self-employed is a good strategy for not working at an organization or company unless if we are not properly prepared for it might leave us in a heap of trouble and a situation where we can't escape from.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt by discussing reasons for self-employment and outlining several disadvantages, such as financial risk and initial funding requirements. The writer adopts a clear position and supports it with examples, such as the uncle's successful venture and the neighbor's son's coconut business. However, some ideas lack deep extension and tend to over-generalize, such as the assertion that people do not respect a self-employed person unless they are successful. While all aspects of the prompt are covered, the development of ideas aligns most closely with Band 6.0 descriptors due to some under-developed arguments and loose framing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear introduction and conclusion paragraphs, and distinct body paragraphs separating the pros and cons. However, cohesion is often faulty or mechanical. The student relies heavily on comma splices and run-on sentences instead of appropriate cohesive devices or full stops, such as in the second paragraph: 'There are many pros associated with the case such as, a person wants freedom...'. Paragraphing is present, but internal logical transitions are weak, and referencing is occasionally unclear. This performance fits the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, leaning toward Band 6.0 for overall logical organisation despite mechanical flow issues.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with clear attempts at less common items such as 'venture', 'bankrupt', 'duped', and 'expertise field'. However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors, including 'buisness' (repeatedly misspelled), 'emrged', 'recieved', and collocation errors like 'expertise field' instead of 'specialised field'. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey meaning, the presence of spelling errors and slightly unnatural collocations prevents the score from rising into the higher bands, placing it firmly at Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar and punctuation is weak. There are numerous run-on sentences and comma splices throughout the text, such as 'For instance My uncle who recently graduated dropped the idea...'. Subject-verb agreement and tense consistency occasionally slip, and missing punctuation creates readability issues. Although the meaning remains understandable, the high frequency of structural and punctuation errors means the majority of sentences are not error-free, capping the performance at Band 5.0.

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

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