Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-30

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 peolpe choose to run their own business , rather than to work for a company or organisation .This comes down to their individual needs ,performances and the benefits they expect to gain.

From my perspective,i believe that being self-employed offers greater flexibility. This is due to the fact that individuals could organise their working hours according to their needs. As a result,they may achieve a better work-life balance .Furthermore ,they have enough time to practise their hobbies and spend time with their families. For instance,freelance web developper can choose when they finish their projects, allowing them to manage both their professional and personnal responsibilities. One other reason , you are always in communication with people from all over the world .As a result,it strengthens your career,improves your skills and helps you to be more confident and independant.

Despite its advantages,it also has several drawbacks.One significant disadvantage is that even a minor mistake with a lack of managements skills can lead to devastating consequences. In other words, this problem can lead to financial losses. One other drawback, is that they can face poor work-life balance. They need to work long hours to achieve such a goal and satisfy clientsThis can affect negatively their personnal lives and health.

To sum up, such a decision should taken seriously because as you can earn more money and be more independant ,you can also loose your own work.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both questions: flexibility and work–life balance are offered as reasons for self-employment, while financial losses and long hours are identified as disadvantages. However, the response is under the required 250 words: it contains 226 words, and the nine words copied from the task prompt were not counted. This limits the space available to explain your ideas. Some points are also under-developed: the claim that communicating with people worldwide strengthens a career is not clearly connected to self-employment, and the conclusion’s reference to “lose your own work” is unclear. Add a specific example or explanation for each main point and make your final position clearer.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining reasons, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “As a result,” “Furthermore,” and “Despite its advantages” help signal relationships between ideas. However, some transitions feel mechanical or repetitive, particularly the repeated “One other…” phrasing. The connection between worldwide communication and the benefits of self-employment is also not made explicit, which interrupts progression. In the disadvantages paragraph, the shift from management mistakes to poor work–life balance would be clearer with a more deliberate transition. Use fewer formulaic linkers and make the relationship between each example and its main point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “flexibility,” “work-life balance,” “financial losses,” and “clients.” These choices help communicate the main ideas. However, the range is limited, and several spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, such as “peolpe,” “developper,” “personnal,” “independant,” and “loose.” Some phrases are also imprecise or unnatural, including “a lack of managements skills” and “achieve such a goal.” These issues can make parts of the response harder to understand. Build a more accurate range of vocabulary for business and employment, and check spelling and collocations carefully before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including a reason clause (“This is due to the fact that…”) and a participle phrase (“allowing them to manage…”). However, errors occur frequently and sometimes make the meaning difficult to follow. For example, “a freelance web developer can choose when they finish” has an unclear pronoun reference, while “This can affect negatively their personal lives” has awkward word order. There are also missing or incorrect grammatical forms in “such a decision should taken seriously” and “you can also lose your own work.” Review verb forms, sentence punctuation, and pronoun consistency. Shorter, carefully checked sentences can help you express your ideas accurately while you develop more complex structures.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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