Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-22

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)

In these days, a large number of individuals prefer self-employment over working in a corporation. These kind of decisions mostly depend on people's own preferences and availibility of employment.

There could be many reasons for instance, with this increasing population unemployment is increasing consequently and there are very less job opportunities. For instance, if an organization is going to hire someone, in other words, there is an opportunity for a single person and there are hundreds of applicants, one got the job and the remaining will go home empty handed, that is why people tend towards self-employment. Another reason is that, to work for an organization, there are several requirement that a person should meet for example a relevent degree and double figure hands on experience and many fresh graduates despite having a degree do not even go through the first screening.

Less social interaction is also one of the reasons of self-employment. People who are introvert, do not feel comfortable in a sector with a lot of peers and colleagues. That is why people prefer to be in a quiet environment with the sole focus on their projects or work.

There are plenty of drawbacks of being a self-employ, for exapmle, less job security as compared to the individuals working for a company. Many companies offer a great deal of free medical insurance while a self-employed individual does not have both, neither job security not medical benefits. Another drawback is that sitting in a workplace with no one to talk to can cause anxiety and depression.

In conclusion, a person should always consider pros and cons for both kind of employment before making a crucial decision of his/her life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both parts of the question: you suggest that limited job opportunities and strict hiring requirements encourage self-employment, and you identify reduced security, lack of medical benefits, and isolation as disadvantages. These are relevant points, and the example of many applicants competing for one position helps illustrate the first reason. However, some ideas are asserted rather than fully explained. For instance, the point about introverted people is not clearly connected to why self-employment is a common choice, and the disadvantages could be developed with a clearer explanation of their practical effects. The conclusion gives general advice rather than drawing together your main reasons and drawbacks. Develop each key point with a specific consequence or example to make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate discussion of reasons and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Paragraphing helps the reader distinguish these sections, and examples are generally placed near the points they support. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes uneven: the first reasons paragraph moves from unemployment to hiring requirements without a clear link, while the paragraph about introversion feels somewhat detached from the main explanation. Connectors such as “for instance,” “another reason,” and “that is why” are used, but some links are mechanical or do not show the relationship precisely. The conclusion also introduces broad advice rather than summarising the argument. Use clearer topic sentences and explicit links between each claim, explanation, and example.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “self-employment,” “job security,” “medical insurance,” and “fresh graduates.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “first screening” and “hands on experience.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, which makes parts of the response less natural: “a self-employ,” “double figure hands on experience,” and “there are very less job opportunities.” Spelling errors such as “availibility,” “relevent,” and “exapmle” are noticeable. Aim for accurate, natural phrases rather than adding complexity; checking spelling and learning common collocations for employment and benefits would improve clarity and precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional phrasing (“if an organization is going to hire someone”) and clauses introduced by “while” and “because”-type reasoning. Meaning is generally understandable, but errors in agreement, articles, plurals, and sentence construction occur often enough to affect fluency. For example, “These kind of decisions” should use a plural demonstrative, and “there are several requirement” needs a plural noun. The long sentence beginning “For instance, if an organization…” is difficult to follow because several ideas are joined without clear punctuation or structure. The final sentence also has an unclear construction around “neither job security not medical benefits.” Practise breaking long sentences into controlled clauses and checking agreement and parallel structures.

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