Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-11-02

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)

Every individual has their personal opinions and demands on either being employed by a company or choosing to be self-employed. Both views have their own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the employees' interests, income expectations, teamwork ability etc.

From my perspective, working for an organisation or company would be more convenient than being self-employed. There are various factors to learn from being in an environment with individuals of different thinking processes, creativity, team cooperation, time management and more abilities of handling a department that is part of the organisation. Furthermore, workers get to learn from each other about different aspects of handling a company through the importance of leadership, good communication, team work and critical decision-making. Whereas for being self employed, the individual will be free to explore the area of their interest at their own pace. They can work on accepting or rejecting in investing product they want, manage other factors like finance, communication with other buyers through online as there is a vast advance in technology, set and achieve goals at a slow pace at their comfort.

On the far side of being self-employed, handling it alone can cause high stress as there isnt anyone o support or share the work. They have to handle all the sectors alone by themselves. Individual can find it time-consumig and risk-taking unless they have a perfect view of the business they have in ming that can coordinate with the world of business. The employee should have enough knowledge about all the sectors he is in to maintain the balance as it can disrupt the work-life balance of the individual. For instance, an employee takes his leisure time to make the drafts for a presentation evn though he is struggling to take the responsibilities as a father to take care of their children during the weekend. This can mentally affect the individual for having overload work by himself.

In conclusion, self-employement has the high freedom and creativity in starting business through varies factors such as technology but it can disrupt the line between work and life that can cause immense stress and hardwork for the individual. Moreover, there will be less of social communication and feedback for their decisions

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions and maintain a relevant focus on self-employment, identifying freedom and control as reasons people may choose it, and stress, workload and work–life conflict as disadvantages. The example of a parent preparing a presentation during the weekend helps illustrate the personal cost. However, the reasons for choosing self-employment are not always clearly explained: the discussion of learning from colleagues mainly describes employment, while the self-employment point about investing in products is difficult to follow. Some disadvantages, such as having to manage every business sector, are asserted rather than developed with a clear explanation or example. A more direct structure—one paragraph explaining why people choose self-employment and another developing its drawbacks—would make the response more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an introduction, developed body paragraphs and a conclusion, and the ideas generally remain connected to the topic. Linking expressions such as “Furthermore,” “For instance” and “In conclusion” help signal relationships between points. However, progression is not consistently clear: the second paragraph begins by favouring company employment, then shifts to the attractions of self-employment, so the answer to the first question is harder to follow. The phrase “On the far side of being self-employed” is also an unclear transition, and several ideas are crowded into long sentences. Organise each paragraph around one clear purpose and use more precise links between claims and examples; this would make cohesion less mechanical and the overall progression easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “leadership,” “critical decision-making,” “work-life balance” and “immense stress,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There are also attempts at less common expressions, but inaccurate word choice, collocation and spelling are noticeable and sometimes make meaning unclear. For example, “investing product” does not clearly express what the person is investing in, while “a vast advance in technology” is an awkward phrase. Errors such as “self-employement,” “time-consumig” and “evn” also reduce accuracy. Aim for natural combinations such as “invest in a product,” “rapid advances in technology” and “time-consuming,” and check spelling and word forms carefully. This will make your vocabulary more precise without requiring unnecessarily complex wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “whereas,” “unless” and “as,” and the main message is usually understandable. However, control is inconsistent, particularly in longer sentences. For example, “Individual can find it time-consuming and risk-taking unless they have a perfect view…” has problems with the article and sentence construction, while “there isnt anyone o support or share the work” contains errors that interrupt reading. The example sentence beginning “For instance, an employee takes his leisure time…” also has unclear clause structure and agreement in “their children.” Practise building shorter, complete sentences first, then add subordinate clauses with clear subjects and consistent pronouns. Check articles, agreement and punctuation during revision.

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