Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

Its been a while since I am hearing about people quiting their jobs and starting their own business. Today, most of the people prefer to start their organization, instead of working for any other firm or company. There are several advanatages and disadvantages of doing so, I will discuss the reason and some disadvantages below.

Overall, The ratio of self employment has increased a lot in recent years. Many people want to be self independent and get rid of corporate employment because they think that the corporate employement does not give them much financial independence. However some still believes that the corporate sector is more relaxed and well paying sector than a busiess.

The major drawback of self employment is the risk of failure. For instance: The chance of loss is very high in business as compared to working in an organization. You have a lot stack at risk when you're running your own business and if by any chance investment doesn't work, it will make you depressed which will lead to mental stress.

Secondly, The revenue generation is not fixed and known in business sector. For instance, There are time in year when your business will give you large profit and similarly there will be situation where you're earning nothing from your business.

On the other hand, There is an arguement that salaried people earn fixed money which makes it easier for individual to fix their goal for future. For instance, People prefer to set their goals way before they acheive it. It makes it easier for them to manage their budget.

In conclusion. While there are several advantages of business instead of working for organization, However the disadvantages are quite large in numbers which can additionally affect your mental health.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt only partially, fulfilling the requirement to discuss both advantages and disadvantages, but remaining quite limited and under-developed throughout. For instance, the explanation of why people choose self-employment is restricted to a brief mention of financial independence without deep exploration or concrete examples. Similarly, the disadvantages focusing on the risk of failure and fluctuating revenue are stated rather than fully extended. While a basic position is presented, ideas lack sufficient support, keeping the response at a restricted level of task fulfillment.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some organisation evident in the text with a clear introduction and conclusion, but overall progression is lacking as ideas tend to jump without smooth logical transitions. Cohesive devices are occasionally inadequate or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'For instance' to introduce examples, and referencing is at times unclear. Paragraphing is attempted, but internal cohesion within paragraphs is repetitive and mechanical, preventing a fully clear and logical flow throughout the essay.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey the basic message. There are noticeable lexical errors, such as 'quiting' instead of quitting, 'advanatages' instead of advantages, 'self independent' instead of independent, and 'busiess' instead of business. Attempts to use less common vocabulary are constrained by spelling and word-choice mistakes that occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a restricted lexical range overall.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing displays a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside basic complex attempts that are often faulty. Frequent errors in grammar and punctuation appear throughout the text, including tense issues ('Its been a while since I am hearing'), missing articles, and faulty punctuation, such as commas separating clauses incorrectly ('In conclusion. While there...'). These frequent errors can cause occasional difficulty for the reader in following the grammatical relationships between ideas.

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