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)

It is true that people nowadays tend to be independent. Rather than working in others company under any employer individuals want to create their own company. The main reason is people want to be independent and feel free to work. This essay will descrive the causes and the demerits of being self employed.

On the one hand, people like to work freely and they want freedom while they can be able to earn money. One of the significant reason is financial independence. People want to be stable with one particular work where they can have financial support. For example, individuals can earn a stable profit from their business. As a result, they can have ability to support oneself, family and government. Another reason is, personal growth, Self employed people can learn new skills everyday. For instance, people can learn from their mistakes without any pressure. as a result, they can improve confident and capability.

On the other hand, there are a number of demerits of being self-employed. Firstly, risk of business failure. People have to invest their money before starting any business and they can face difficulties with business environments such as, market change or poor planing. For this, individuals can face financial loss and emotional stress. Seccondly, high stress lavel. By starting new business, people can face pressure to plartform. Because of this, mantal and physical health isuues can effect them.

In conclusion, there are many people who want to run their own business with freedom and independent confident. However, there are many disadvantages which create difficulties for individuals for starting a business. If people start their own business, most of companies may suffer with lack of employers in future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: independence and freedom are offered as reasons for self-employment, while business failure, financial loss, and stress are identified as disadvantages. These points are relevant, and examples such as investing money before starting a business help make the risks concrete. However, the reasons are not always clearly explained: “financial independence” is followed by a claim about stable work and profit, without showing why self-employment is more likely to provide this. The final point about companies suffering from a lack of employees is also introduced without development. To strengthen the response, explain each main idea more fully and make the relationship between the examples and the question explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for reasons and disadvantages, and a conclusion. “On the one hand” and “On the other hand” help signal the shift between the two parts of the discussion, and the ideas generally follow a sensible order. However, some linking is mechanical or unclear. For example, “For this” does not clearly connect the business risks to the resulting financial loss, and “Because of this” introduces health effects without explaining the steps in the connection. The conclusion also adds a new claim about companies losing employees rather than drawing together the main points. Use clearer links between cause and effect, and keep the conclusion focused on the ideas already discussed.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “financial independence,” “business failure,” “financial loss,” and “emotional stress.” These terms help communicate the main ideas. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making meaning difficult to follow. Examples include “pressure to plartform,” “improve confident,” and “stable profit”; the intended meanings are not expressed naturally. Spelling errors such as “Seccondly,” “lavel,” and “isuues” also reduce accuracy. Build a more precise set of phrases for discussing business ownership and its risks, and check spelling and word forms carefully. More accurate collocations would make your ideas clearer and more convincing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a relative clause in “where they can have financial support” and a conditional structure in “If people start their own business.” However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence structure, agreement, articles, and punctuation sometimes make the meaning harder to follow. For example, “One of the significant reason is” has a number-agreement problem, while “individuals want to create their own company” shifts between plural and singular forms. The sentence beginning “Another reason is, personal growth” is also punctuated incorrectly and does not form a smooth grammatical connection to the following sentence. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and verb, consistent singular or plural forms, and accurate punctuation.

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