Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-04
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)
In contemporary age, a number of people choose to be self-employed, compared to work for a company or organisation. This eassy will examine both causes and disadvantages of being self-employed .
On the one hand, one of the reason for employee choosing self-employment is due to lack of interest in jobs. Most of people loves to do job which satisfy them but due to the high number of people applying and getting job reduces the opportunites for them who are interested in that jobs which results new startups. For instance, if a students loves to work in Ai or software related companies like meta and google which have limited seats and opportunties people will create a job or startups related to their interest. Therefore, the interest of people in certain works creates new startups and when they lack opportunites from interested profession.
On another hand, there are some drawbacks and disadvantages of being self-employed. The startups and businesses can be effect our living standards due to uncertain income . For example, employees working in company and organisation get paid a good amount of salary in monthly basis which help them to be economically stable. Thus, although self employed and startups helps in long-term career development but working in sompany and organisation helps to stay financally stable.
In conclusion, although company provides a stable financial ,I believe that being self employed and creating new startups supports to build long-term career.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the reasons for self-employment and its disadvantages, but the ideas remain limited and under-developed. For instance, the explanation of why people choose self-employment due to limited opportunities in major companies is repetitive and lacks extension. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met, as the response contains only 239 words against the 250-word minimum, which restricts the depth of the arguments presented.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The text demonstrates some overall organisation with clear paragraphing and basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand' and 'On another hand'. However, referencing and progression are sometimes faulty, leading to mechanical transitions. For example, the sentence 'Therefore, the interest of people in certain works creates new startups and when they lack opportunites from interested profession' disrupts the logical flow and clarity of the paragraph.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey the basic message. There are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as 'eassy', 'opportunites', 'opportunties', and 'on monthly basis', alongside spelling mistakes like 'sompany'. These errors do not entirely impede communication, but they restrict the range of vocabulary displayed and cause some difficulty for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response shows a limited range of sentence structures, with frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. Attempts at complex sentences often become faulty, such as in the clause 'Most of people loves to do job which satisfy them', where subject-verb agreement and article usage are incorrect. Other errors include prepositions and singular/plural mismatches like 'one of the reason' and 'a students', which frequently cause difficulty and require the reader to slow down.
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