Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-07-26

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 6.5)

There is an ongoing debate about people who select their own business despite working in corporation or office. It might be due to poor salaries and conflicts at workplace. There are several demerits of running a business.

To begin with, currently numerous people wanted to set up their on workforce. It means that they prefer independence, career prospects and self growth. One compelling reason for this stance is the lower wages as compare to their expectations and long work hours. In many enterprises work is sechduled between 9am-5pm and even sometimes their will be an overtime. Furthermore, on the work site, lack of mutual understanding between colleagues leads to job dissatisfaction. For instance: last year i left my highly paying coorporate job just due to hectic enviornment.

There are various demerits of being your own boss. Firstly, it is extremely difficult to plan an idea then execute in it. This is because, the intial costs are so high for an ordinary person. Many individuals sell their property and opens a store however still there is a need of adverstisement for grabing customers attention. Secondly, the owner needs to be attentive all the time to maintain a check and balance on the manager and the labours, simultaneously. The workers demand holidays and bonus every sixth month. For example my brother started his salt company, it shows adverse effects on his mental health because mostly their is a labour shortage or salt in considerable amount to fill in the packets and the big stores who purchase from him denied for further contact to due to sudden excessive shortage in supply.

In conclusion, people wants independence due to stressful environment at the workplace and low income. Although, being self-employed have cons of labour shortage, cost mananging and heavy advertisements.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for choosing self-employment and the disadvantages involved. The ideas are relevant, such as the desire for independence and the financial risks of starting a business. However, the development is somewhat uneven. While the reasons for self-employment are clear, the explanation of disadvantages, particularly the example regarding the brother's salt company, is slightly confusing and lacks clarity in its connection to the main argument. The position is consistent throughout, but the essay would benefit from more sophisticated analysis to reach a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the final paragraph where the summary of disadvantages feels slightly disconnected from the preceding arguments. Paragraphing is used appropriately, but the flow between sentences could be improved to create a more natural progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to convey their meaning clearly. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'compelling reason' and 'simultaneously'. However, there are several spelling errors ('sechduled', 'coorporate', 'enviornment', 'adverstisement', 'mananging') and some awkward collocations ('set up their on workforce', 'cost mananging'). These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the score as they indicate a lack of precision in word choice and spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the writer attempts complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('people wants', 'mostly their is', 'stores who purchase from him denied'), article usage, and tense consistency. Punctuation is also inconsistent, especially with the use of commas. While these errors are noticeable, they rarely prevent the reader from understanding the intended message. To improve, the writer should focus on basic grammatical accuracy and proofreading for common slips.

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