Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-09

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 todays rapidly changing world, many individuals select to be self-emplyees rather than working for company or organisation. Which created a doubts of the case and a fear of the drawbacks of self-employement.

Many people nowadays perefer self employement because of several types of hard working job with a really low income which became very frequent at the current moment because there s so many people work so many hours without getting any reward. In addition, one of the main reasons also is the annoying managers, the emplyers make so much pressure for the works ,also for instance: the employers dont provide the conditions of the workers. As a result people go toward the self-employement even if its not consistent sometimes.

There is a lot of drawbacks of the self emplyement, one of them is that the self-employement not always last and winns because 70% of people espicially in out generation dont work when they didnt sign a contrat ,they dont take it seriously. Furthermore, Inconsistent Income because cash flow can flacuate from month to month some times u make a lot and somtimes a littel where somtime perhaps nothing, for instance if the person dont know how to manage thier money well thery wont survive the bills and taxes and maybe rent .No paid benefits, the self-emplyeed find thier selfs entirely responsible for funding thier own healthcare, sick leave, paid time off, and also retirement contributions. As a result, they find thier self re applying for jobs in companies or even in the streets.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: you suggest low pay, long hours and pressure from managers as reasons for choosing self-employment, then discuss unstable income and the absence of employee benefits. These points are relevant, but several are asserted rather than clearly explained. For example, the claim that many people do not take work seriously without signing a contract is difficult to connect to the disadvantages of self-employment, and the final reference to returning to company jobs or working “in the streets” is unclear. The response therefore covers the task only partially, with ideas that remain limited or under-developed. To strengthen it, explain how each disadvantage affects a self-employed person and use a specific, plausible example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic three-part structure: an introduction, a paragraph on reasons, and one on disadvantages. This helps the reader identify the two main parts of the task. However, progression within the paragraphs is uneven, and some connections are unclear. The opening says the essay will discuss “doubts of the case,” which does not clearly preview the response, while the disadvantages paragraph moves from contracts to fluctuating income and benefits without explaining how the points relate. Linking phrases such as “In addition,” “Furthermore,” and “As a result” are used, but some feel mechanical or do not establish a clear relationship. Organise each paragraph around one main idea, then explain and illustrate it before moving to the next.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You attempt vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “self-employment,” “inconsistent income,” “cash flow,” “healthcare,” and “retirement contributions.” This shows some ability to discuss work and financial issues. However, the range is limited and frequent spelling and word-choice errors sometimes make the message difficult to follow, such as “self-emplyeed,” “flacuate,” and “winns.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, including “hard working job with a really low income” and “go toward the self-employement.” Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully. For example, describe “low-paid jobs” and say people “choose self-employment” rather than “go toward” it.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use some longer sentence forms, including a reason-and-result structure beginning “As a result” and a conditional example about managing money. However, attempts at complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make parts of the response difficult to understand. The opening fragment “Which created a doubts…” is not a complete sentence, and “there s so many people work so many hours” has problems with agreement and clause structure. Other examples include “the self-employement not always last” and “if the person dont know,” where verb forms and agreement are inaccurate. Sentence boundaries and punctuation also need attention, particularly where several ideas run together. Practise building accurate simple sentences first, then combine them using controlled clauses.

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