Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-11
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)
It is incresingly common that individuals are choosing self-employed rather than working in the organisation or company. There are several reasons for this situation such as they want to become a boss or they are not satisfaied with their work. Furthermore, there are several drawbacks for this trend, particularly they may lose their investments.
There are several reasons assosiated with why people are choosing self employed. One of the main reason is individuals are not satisfaied with their work this is due to environment is not suitable for them or they may not satisfaied with their compensation. For instance, if a person working in the company for a long time and they still in the same position with same salary. Eventually, they become dissatisfaied and decided to start their own business. Therefore, these factors such as salaries, environment are essential for worker satisfaction. If organisation do not provides these facilities to their worker they may start their own business.
There are also some disadvantages with self-employed. One important factor is people may lose their investments. This is because if individuals are not fimilier and they do not have an experties in a particular field, they may lose thier investments. For example, a person in the organization for the long time as a IT expert. Due to some problems they resign from their job and invest in the business without any experties. As a result, they may lose their investments and their job as well.
In conclusion, individuals are increasingly choosing self-employed due to dissatisfaction of working environment or lack of compensation. However, there are some drawback for being self-employed such as they may lose their investments if they start own business with experties.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
You address both questions and maintain a relevant focus: dissatisfaction with pay or the workplace is offered as a reason for self-employment, while losing investment is identified as a disadvantage. The examples about an employee remaining in the same role and an IT worker starting a business help illustrate these points. However, the response only partially develops the task. The reasons are largely limited to workplace dissatisfaction, and the disadvantage is mainly financial; other relevant consequences, such as unstable income or responsibility for running a business, are not explored. The final phrase “with experties” also makes the conclusion unclear about the condition under which investment may be lost. Explain each idea more fully and make the conclusion precise.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, separate paragraphs for reasons and disadvantages, and a conclusion. The progression from workplace dissatisfaction to the example, and then to the risk of losing investment, is generally easy to follow. Linking expressions such as “For instance,” “Therefore,” and “In conclusion” help signal relationships between ideas. To make the organisation more effective, avoid repeating the same point in several forms—for example, dissatisfaction with work, salary, and working environment is reiterated in the first body paragraph and conclusion. Some links are also mechanical, and the relationship between the IT worker’s expertise and the business risk could be made clearer. Use more precise referencing and develop each paragraph around a distinct, fully explained point.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “self-employed,” “compensation,” “investments,” and “dissatisfied.” However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, such as “incresingly,” “assosiated,” “fimiIier,” “experties,” and “thier.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise: “choosing self-employed” and “lose their investments” could be expressed more idiomatically in context. Repetition of “satisfied,” “work,” and “business” further limits flexibility. Build a more accurate range for discussing employment and business risks, and check spelling and collocations carefully so that your meaning is consistently clear.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “if a person [works] in the company for a long time” and cause-and-effect clauses with “because” and “as a result.” However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently in sentence construction, verb forms, agreement, and articles. For example, “One of the main reason” needs plural agreement, “if organisation do not provides” has errors in both agreement and verb form, and “they become dissatisfied and decided” shifts tense inconsistently. The opening phrase “choosing self-employed rather than working” also needs a more complete grammatical structure. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement and consistent tense, then proofread each sentence for missing articles and complete clauses.
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