Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-16

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)

Nowadays many people prefer to be self-employed rather than to work for a company of organisation.

A few factors can be the cause of this. The first one will be flexible hours. People have families and when you work for yourself it is much easier to take off and go to a school event whereas if you work for a company your boss won't always allow you to take off for school activities.

There is also disadvantages when it comes to being self-employed. When you are self-employed is is stresful, because you are not guaranteed of a fixed montly salary whereas you will be when working for a company.

The second disadvantage is that you are responsible for paying the bills whereas when you are working for a company you don't even know what bills have to be paid.

There is both disadvantages and advantages to being self-emplyed. I don't think anyone can make that choice for someone. I feel that each person must decide what works for them and this will help them to make the choice.

I will defintely perfer being self-employed, becasue then I will have more time for my own family. I think family time is is very important because this plays a crucial roll in the development of a child both physically and emotionally.

I am currently working for a company and this company makes it impossible to get enough time with my family. Therefore I take out of experience when I say being self-employed is beter when you have a family.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: flexible hours are given as a reason for self-employment, while uncertain income and responsibility for bills are identified as disadvantages. Your personal experience and view that family time matters make the response relevant. However, the explanations remain limited: for example, the point about bills is not developed to show what financial pressures or responsibilities involve, and the advantages are discussed more fully than the disadvantages. Your position is present, though it becomes clearest near the end. The response is 247 words, three words below the 250-word minimum; the 11 words copied from the task prompt are not counted. Develop each main idea with a specific consequence or example and meet the required length.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure, moving from a reason to disadvantages and then to your personal view and experience. Linking expressions such as “The first one,” “There is also,” and “Therefore” help signal relationships between points. However, progression is not consistently clear: “The second disadvantage” follows a paragraph that already introduces disadvantages, and the final paragraphs repeat the preference for self-employment and family time rather than advancing the discussion. Some connections are also awkward, such as “I take out of experience,” which makes the intended link to your work experience unclear. Organise the response into a clear introduction, separate developed body paragraphs for reasons and disadvantages, and a concise conclusion; use referencing and transitions more precisely.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough everyday vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “flexible hours,” “fixed monthly salary,” and “development of a child.” These phrases show some ability to discuss work and family life. However, the range is limited and several expressions are repetitive or imprecise, particularly repeated references to “working for a company” and “family time.” There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “stresful,” “emplyed,” “defintely,” and “becasue,” which reduce accuracy. Some collocations are unnatural, such as “take out of experience” and “take off” in this context. Build a wider set of precise phrases for financial risk, work-life balance, and business responsibilities, and proofread spelling and collocation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a comparison with “whereas” and a reason introduced by “because.” The main message is generally understandable, but errors occur often enough to affect fluency. For example, “There is also disadvantages” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “When you are self-employed is is stressful” contains a duplicated verb and an incomplete clause structure. The sentence beginning “I don't think anyone can make that choice for someone” is also unclear in its construction. There are some successful longer sentences, but control is uneven. Practise accurate agreement and clause formation, and check sentence boundaries and punctuation; this will make your ideas easier to follow while allowing you to retain varied sentence forms.

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