Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

In recent years, an increasing number of people preferred to be self-employed, rather than work for a company or organization. Self-employed has independence for working and no restriction for working hours. However, self employed has some drawbacks, including lack of job security and financial uncertainty.

There are several reason why people choose to work for themselves. Firstly, self-employer has independence and greater freedom. Unlike employers, who work in other company has no independence and they follow policies and rules of company. Secondly, self employed has independence for any decision related to their company. Furthermore, self employed has not restrictions for working hours. Self employed can perform their work at any time and Self employed has greater financial opportunities. For example, freelancers can generate more income by working more hours and have no restrictions for working hours. Freelancers can perform their work at any hours and they have not necessary to follow any policies and rules.

Despite these advantages, self-employment has several disadvantages. People who work for themselves do not receive regular income. In addition, people who work for themselves have no job security and some time they struggle to manage their household expenses. Unlike employee, who work in a company has security of job and company provide other benefits like, health insurance and travel expenses. For instance, freelancers some time financially struggle because some time they can not get client or work. freelancers do not get any advantages like health insurances and travel expenses.

To sum up, people are increasingly attracted to self employment because of independence and no restriction of work hours. However, financial uncertainty and lack of job security make it more challenging.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a clear overall position: independence and flexible hours attract people, while uncertain income and limited security are disadvantages. The examples about freelancers and household expenses are relevant, and the conclusion summarises the main points. However, some ideas are more fully addressed than others. The reasons for choosing self-employment are repeated—especially independence and freedom from restrictions—rather than extended with distinct explanations. The point about greater financial opportunities is asserted but not explained, and the disadvantages could be developed with a specific consequence or example. To strengthen the response, explain how autonomy benefits different workers and clarify when self-employment may offer higher earnings, while adding detail about the practical effects of irregular income.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, a paragraph explaining reasons, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a concluding summary. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” “Furthermore,” and “Despite these advantages” make the progression easy to follow, and the contrast between benefits and drawbacks is clear. This meets the lower-band expectations securely and shows some flexibility in organising the discussion. However, cohesion is occasionally mechanical, and repeated references to “self employed” and “freelancers” make the paragraphs feel repetitive. Some links between points are also loose: the example about working more hours repeats the preceding claim about flexible hours rather than adding a new layer of support. Group related ideas and use clearer references such as “these workers” to improve flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “self-employed,” “independence,” “job security,” “financial uncertainty,” and “household expenses.” These terms are relevant and generally understandable. However, the range is limited by repeated wording, particularly “independence,” “restrictions,” and “work,” and several expressions are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “self-employer,” “no restriction for working hours,” and “have no advantages.” These choices sometimes make the meaning less precise, even though the reader can usually understand it. Build a wider set of natural collocations for employment and income, and check word forms and spelling, including consistent use of “self-employment” and “freelancers.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more developed sentence forms, including contrast structures such as “Unlike employers…” and a concession-led paragraph beginning “Despite these advantages.” The main message remains understandable. However, control is uneven, with recurring errors in agreement, articles, plurals, and sentence construction. For example, “There are several reason” needs plural agreement, while “Unlike employee, who work in a company has security” combines mismatched singular and plural forms. “Company provide” also needs a plural subject or a singular verb form. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, and some sentences repeat the same structure. Practise building accurate subject–verb patterns and proofreading each sentence for agreement and articles; then vary the structures without sacrificing accuracy.

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