Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-16

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,many people choose to be self-employed, rather than to work for a company or organisation has become increasingly more prevalent.While this development offers severals significant advantages,it also present some certain drawbacks that cannot over looked.

One of the primary advantage of being self-employed is that people have greater freedom and flexbility in their working lives.This is because they can decide their own working hours,choose the topic they want to undertake and make important decision by themselves,which enables individuals to maintain a better work-life balance.For instance,a binance trader can choose where and when to work according to their own schedule.Another notable benefits is that the possibility to generate higher income.Consequently,sucessful entrepreneurs can increase their profits without being restricted to a fixed salary.

Depsite these advantages there are also several drawbacks to consider.One significant disadvantage is that financial insecurity.Unlike employees who usually receive a regulary salary,self-employed people may experience periods they have little or no income.This can lead to financial stress,particularly when business demand is low.Moreover self-employed individuals have to manage many responsibilities themselves,such as paying taxes,finding customers,takes permission from the government for projects and dealing with business problems.As a result,they may have have to work more or longer hours and experience considerable pressure.In addition,they will have stress to pay staff salaries and bills.

In conclusions,people may choose self-employment mainly because of greater freedom,flexibility and the possiblility of earning more income.However,financial certainty and increased responsibilty are important disadvantages.Therefore,it is important to carefullly evaluate both aspects before fully adoping this trend.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the reasons for choosing self-employment and the potential disadvantages. The ideas are relevant and clearly presented. The introduction sets a clear position, and the body paragraphs provide sufficient support for the arguments. For instance, the mention of 'freedom and flexibility' and 'financial insecurity' are well-developed points. However, the response could be improved by providing more nuanced examples or a deeper exploration of the consequences of these factors to reach a higher band. Overall, the task is fully addressed with a consistent position maintained throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'For instance', 'Consequently', and 'In addition' are used to link ideas effectively. However, there are some minor issues with punctuation and spacing (e.g., missing spaces after commas), which occasionally make the flow feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the advantages from the disadvantages. To improve, the student should focus on ensuring that transitions between sentences are smoother and that punctuation does not interfere with the readability of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at topic-specific vocabulary, such as 'entrepreneurs', 'financial insecurity', and 'work-life balance'. However, there are several spelling errors (e.g., 'severals', 'sucessful', 'Depsite', 'carefullly') and minor word-choice inaccuracies (e.g., 'takes permission' instead of 'obtaining permits'). While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. Increasing the range of collocations and ensuring accurate spelling would significantly enhance the lexical score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the student demonstrates an ability to construct complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'it also present', 'Another notable benefits') and article usage. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with several missing spaces after commas and periods. Despite these errors, the meaning remains clear throughout the response. To improve, the student should focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy and ensuring that complex structures are used with greater precision.

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