Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-12

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)

People recently prefer not to work for a company or organisation but instead choose to become self-employed. This change is because of many personal reasons since the world nowadays offer more options from the comfort of your home. At the same time being self-employed has many drawbacks as it involves a huge risk factor.

The primary reason, people are opting for self-employment is because most companies don't pay there employees a decent salary in which they can survive in the current economy. The wolrd has changed now and everyone is allowed to run a bussiness or offer freelance services on the internet from your home which saves alot of time. For example a person who works for a company has to deal with waking up early then reaching on time after going through all the traffic in the city to finally reaching the office with little to no energy. Moreover he has to do work for 8 hours and reach home late at night which mentally exhausts a person mind and body. After all this he is given low salary to survive each month.

The main drawbacks of being someone who is self-employed is that for the initial months a person might not get any clients or have any sort of sales for their business. However, working for a organization u have a stable income each month which is guaranteed to be credited in your bank account. For example a recent graduate who is doing a full-time job decides to leave it and persue for self-employement by doing freelance work might not be successful. As there are already more people on the internet providing the same services with more experience and better reviews of clients in the market maintaining trust.

In conclusion people tend to move towards self-employement because of multiple reasons as metioned earlier like low salaries and less time for themselves but being self-employed is also a very risky decesion as it doesn't guarantees a income.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a clear overall position: people may choose self-employment for better control over their time and opportunities to earn independently, while unstable income and difficulty finding clients are disadvantages. The examples about commuting and a graduate entering freelance work help make these points relevant. However, the reasons for choosing self-employment are not equally developed: the discussion focuses heavily on low salaries and the burdens of office work, while the appeal of working from home is mentioned but not explored in depth. The disadvantage paragraph is more specific, though it could explain further how irregular earnings affect a person. Developing each main idea with a clearer explanation would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the reasons and disadvantages, and a conclusion that restates the main points. The examples generally follow the ideas they support, so the reader can follow the argument. Some connections are mechanical or unclear, however. For instance, “The primary reason, people are opting…” uses punctuation that interrupts the sentence, and “After all this” links the commuting example to the low-salary point without a smooth transition. The conclusion repeats the introduction rather than drawing the discussion together. Use clearer links between cause and consequence, and make references such as “this” or “it” point unmistakably to a specific idea.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “self-employed,” “freelance services,” “stable income,” and “clients.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions such as “mentally exhausts” and “maintaining trust.” However, the range is limited by repeated general wording such as “person,” “work,” and “reasons,” and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling errors are noticeable. Examples include “run a bussiness,” “the wolrd,” “alot,” and “persue for self-employement.” Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “a person mind and body” and “doesn't guarantees a income.” Build a wider set of accurate expressions for income, working conditions, and business uncertainty, and proofread spelling and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “a person who works for a company” and a conditional example beginning “who… decides to leave it.” The main ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors occur across the response. For example, “the world nowadays offer” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “a person might not get any clients or have any sort of sales” is followed by the fragment “As there are already more people…” The opening of the second paragraph also has faulty punctuation and sentence construction. There are errors with articles and agreement in “a organization” and “doesn't guarantees a income.” Aim to make complex sentences complete and check agreement, articles, and punctuation.

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