Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

Yeah,it is true that nowadays many people choose to be self-employed rather than to work for a company or organisation.This might be the case due to different reasons.The first and foremost reason is earning cap.You can earn limited and fixed possible amount of money if you work for a company or organisation.But if you are self-employed you could earn more than the salaries company give an employee.Also there might be another reason which is feeling of being pressurized by another person.Some people dislike it.For example,if you are self-employed you can do whatever you want whenever you want and how long you want.But the employee of a company or organisation is given a deadline.He must need to finish the work before the deadline ends otherwise he might get scolded or fired.So,it is a huge pressure on that worker.Also a self-employed person don't need to ask for a day-off or vacation for some days to his manager or boss unlike the employee of a company or organisation.But there also some disadvantages of being self-employed.The main disadvantage is either financial or mental situations.Self-employed people do also have pressure of his own work.He has to manage his work all by himself which is very challenging.A self-employed person can make more mistake and be a failure or be completely broke sooner than a salary based employee of a company.So this is also a fact that a self-employed person might be very wealthy or might be broke.That's why,it is a risky to choose to be self-employed.Personally.I also want to be a self-employeed for that earning reason.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: you suggest higher earning potential and greater independence as reasons for self-employment, then identify financial risk and the burden of managing work alone as disadvantages. These points are relevant, and the contrast with employees facing deadlines gives one example. However, the ideas are mostly asserted rather than explained or supported; for instance, the claim that self-employed people can “do whatever you want” is broad, and the financial risks are not illustrated with a specific example. Your personal preference is clear at the end, but the response is short of the required minimum: 245 words, with 17 words copied from the prompt excluded. Develop the reasons and disadvantages further and add a relevant example to complete the response more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable order: it first explains why people may choose self-employment and then turns to disadvantages. Examples and contrasts help the reader follow the main points. However, the writing is presented as one long paragraph, so the shift between the two parts of the question is not clearly signposted. Linking phrases such as “Also,” “But,” and “So” are repeated, and some connections are abrupt—for example, the move from taking vacation to the disadvantages. Use separate paragraphs for the two questions, and vary linking devices while making the relationship between each claim and its explanation explicit. This would create clearer progression rather than a sequence of loosely connected points.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “self-employed,” “deadline,” “financial,” and “pressure.” Some phrases also attempt to express more specific concepts, such as “fixed possible amount of money.” However, the range is limited and several choices are unnatural or imprecise, which makes parts of the response harder to read. For example, “earning cap” does not clearly express the idea of limited earnings, and “salary based employee” is an awkward description. There are also spelling and word-form problems, including “self-employeed” and “mistake” where a plural is intended. Build a more precise set of phrases for income, autonomy, workload, and financial uncertainty, and check spelling and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, including conditional structures such as “if you are self-employed you could earn more” and a contrast between self-employed people and employees. These attempts communicate the general meaning, but errors are frequent and sometimes make the reader pause. Examples include “a self-employed person don't need,” “He must need to finish,” and “there also some disadvantages,” which show problems with agreement and verb construction. Articles and sentence boundaries are also inconsistent, as in “it is a risky” and the run-on punctuation around “So” and “Personally.” Practise accurate subject–verb agreement, modal and auxiliary patterns, and sentence punctuation. Shorter, correctly controlled sentences would help before adding more complex structures.

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