Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-29

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)

Now many people choose self employment over work at any company because they pay less salary and get extra work from you and living expense are too high you can't manage everything.

The living expense are too high and now everything becomes more costly to buy anything. People try hard but they didn't enough salary according to their expense. They have to gave rent,pay bills like electricity, wifi,gas,water and they have to buy groceries. If you have children then there are a lot more expenses but you can't afford. Moreover if you work for your own you have many options to do and then you can hire people for you and when your business runs good then you have money that you neend to live a good life. You can go to your own company at any time and if you don't want to go you can work from home this becomes a little easy for you. For example if you self employed there are a lot options to get into and if your business start running then you get a big profit from it.

The disadvantage of self employment is you didn't know from where to start and you have no experience it it, so this becomes difficult for you to run your own business and manage finance department. First of all to start your own business you have a good amount of money if you don't then you get loan from bank and every month you have to pay little money to that bank even if you don't get profit from your company. For example if some one leave a company and start his own business he don't know where to start and doesn't have enough money.

In conclusion there are many disadvantage but there are a lot of advantage as well. You have to take risk to achieve something in life and become wealthy and afford what you want in life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both parts of the question: you suggest that low salaries and rising living costs encourage people to work for themselves, and you identify start-up finance and lack of experience as disadvantages. The examples of rent, bills and borrowing from a bank help make these points relevant. However, the reasons are only partly developed. For instance, you say self-employment offers “many options” and can bring “a big profit,” but do not explain what kinds of work or how this income might differ from a salary. The disadvantages also focus mainly on starting a business, with little discussion of ongoing risks such as irregular income or responsibility for all business decisions. Your conclusion gives a general view rather than drawing together the main points.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an opening, a paragraph about reasons, a paragraph about disadvantages and a conclusion. This helps the reader identify the two sides of the topic. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the discussion moves from high living costs to hiring people, working from home and profit without clearly showing how each point connects. Linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “First of all” and “For example” are used, but some links feel mechanical or introduce repetition rather than a new step in the argument. The examples also repeat the general claims instead of extending them. To improve, give each paragraph a clear central idea and arrange its explanation and example in a deliberate sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “self employment,” “salary,” “expenses,” “business,” “profit” and “loan.” However, the range is limited and several words or phrases are repeated, particularly “own business,” “money” and “expenses.” Some choices are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “living expense,” “manage finance department” and “a big profit,” which can make parts of the argument less clear. Spelling errors such as “neend” also reduce accuracy. Build a more precise range for discussing employment and business, and check common collocations—for example, use “living costs,” “manage finances” and “make a substantial profit.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including conditional forms such as “If you have children” and “if your business runs good.” However, complex sentences are often faulty, and frequent errors sometimes make the reader work to understand the meaning. Examples include “they didn't enough salary,” “They have to gave rent,” and “if some one leave a company … he don't know,” where verb forms and subject–verb agreement are not controlled. There are also problems with articles, plurals and sentence boundaries, as in “The living expense are too high” and the opening sentence, which joins several ideas without clear punctuation. Practise accurate past and present verb forms, agreement, and breaking long sentences into clear clauses.

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