Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-11-11

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 6.0)

Nowdays, it is often argued that being self-employed became increasingly common. On one hand there are individuals who think that this trend may have multiple positive aspects, however there are many people who believe that it has drawbacks.

Many people believe that being self-employed can be better and have more benefits in their daily lives then being an employee. One of the main reasons for this trend is that they may be more independente and responsible, since they will not have orders from anyone. In addition, they will be able to make their own choices that they think are better for the benefits of the company or business. As a result, these people may feel less anxious and nervous. For instance, nowadays both teenagers and adults opened companies and businesses online and work alone because they may feel more comfortable.

On the other hand I think that being self-employed can have a lot of drawbacks, moreover many individuals argue that it can have negative impacts on both mental and physical health of people.Firslty, this trend can reduce productivity of workers, due to the fact that they will have less social interactions. Furthermore, if people choose to be self-employed they may experience more stress and pressure, compare to individuals who cooperate, owing to the fact that they will not be able to share the tasks and have to face all the problems. For this reason, they will have busy schedules and cannot spent times relaxing.

In conclusion, there are several opinions about this topic. Despite some workers argue that self-employed can have more positive aspects, others believe that cooperating can help the company to be developped, and help people to feel good and enjoy their time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both questions: it suggests that self-employment offers independence and control over decisions, then discusses reduced social contact, pressure, and difficulty sharing tasks. These are relevant reasons and disadvantages, and the online-business example helps illustrate the first point. However, some ideas are asserted rather than explained. For example, the link between independence and feeling “less anxious and nervous” could be clarified, and the example of teenagers and adults working online is broad rather than specific. The conclusion also shifts to the benefits of “cooperating” without clearly summarising the reasons people choose self-employment. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation or example and maintain a direct focus on both questions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for reasons and disadvantages, and a conclusion. The progression from independence to possible health and workload effects is generally easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “In addition,” “Furthermore,” and “For this reason” help connect points. This shows a coherent arrangement, with some features of stronger progression. However, transitions are occasionally mechanical or confusing: “On one hand” introduces a contrast that is not fully established, while “On the other hand I think” combines a contrast marker with a personal stance. The conclusion introduces cooperation rather than neatly drawing together the discussion. Use transitions that express the precise relationship between ideas, and make paragraph endings and the conclusion reinforce the essay’s central points.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate its main ideas, including “self-employed,” “independent,” “social interactions,” “stress and pressure,” and “productivity.” There are also attempts at more specific phrasing, such as “share the tasks.” However, the range is limited in places, and several word-choice, collocation, word-form, and spelling errors make the writing less natural: “more independente,” “less social interactions,” “spent times relaxing,” and “developped.” “Positive aspects” and “drawbacks” are repeated or used in broad terms rather than replaced with more precise language. Build a wider set of accurate expressions for autonomy, workload, income uncertainty, and work-life balance, and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses with “since,” “because,” and “owing to the fact that.” Most ideas remain understandable, and the sentence about having to face problems and being unable to share tasks shows an effort to express a more complex relationship. Some grammatical errors remain, however. For example, “being self-employed became increasingly common” needs a more suitable tense, “they may be more independent and responsible” requires the correct adjective form, and “they will have busy schedules and cannot spent” has an incorrect verb form. There are also issues with articles, agreement, and punctuation, such as the missing space after “people.” Practise checking tense consistency, verb forms after modal verbs, and sentence boundaries while retaining your complex structures.

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