Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-26
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 6.0)
Nowadays, an increasing number of professionals are choosing self-employment rather than working for companies or organizations. This is mainly because self-employment provides greater freedom and flexibility, although it also has several disadvantages. What are the causes and disadvantages of being self-employed? It depends upon the conditions around them.
On the one hand, every person wants freedom, whether in making decisions or in earning, and does not want to work for any boss or in an organization. Mostly in organizations, employees face many issues regarding their pay as well as incentives. The toxic and unprofessional culture in some companies pushes back the real and honest worker, and some employees who flatter their superiors gain promotions and incentives. Additionally, this is not a one-day or one-month behavior an employee faces of discouragement but a long-time pushback, which creates a way to choose the self-employed path and work online from home or anywhere they want.
Furthermore, a self-employed person is free to work, and there is no fixed schedule, but every act has a price, and the self-employed person pays the price in the form of sleepless nights, no fixed daily time, and health issues. As online work has no fixed time, maybe clients send you texts late at night to fix any issue that sometimes is minor but mostly disturbs the employee's night routine. Sleepless nights create many health issues in the form of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, etc.
In conclusion, people may choose self-employment because it offers greater freedom and flexibility, although it can also make it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the reasons for choosing self-employment and the potential disadvantages. The ideas are relevant, focusing on autonomy and workplace culture as drivers, and health/work-life balance as drawbacks. However, the development is somewhat limited. For instance, the discussion on 'toxic culture' is a good point but could be further extended with a concrete example to reach a higher band. The introduction is slightly repetitive, restating the prompt rather than providing a clear overview of the essay's direction. Overall, the response is clear and maintains a consistent position throughout, meeting the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0 level of development.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5
The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs. There is a progression of ideas from the introduction to the body paragraphs and the conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion' are used effectively to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the referencing within paragraphs could be smoother. For example, the sentence 'Additionally, this is not a one-day or one-month behavior...' is a bit clunky and could be better integrated into the preceding argument. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate and the flow of information is logical.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common collocations, such as 'toxic and unprofessional culture' and 'work-life balance'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there is occasional repetition of words like 'employees' and 'organizations'. Some phrasing is slightly unnatural, such as 'pushes back the real and honest worker' or 'a long-time pushback', which indicates a need for more precise word choice. To improve, the student should focus on using more varied synonyms and idiomatic expressions related to the professional world.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While there are some error-free sentences, there are also recurring grammatical inaccuracies. For example, 'this is not a one-day or one-month behavior an employee faces of discouragement' is awkward and grammatically strained. There are also minor issues with article usage and prepositional phrases. Despite these errors, the meaning is always clear, and the punctuation is generally handled well. The student demonstrates a reasonable command of grammar, but more variety in complex sentence structures and greater attention to syntactic accuracy would be required for a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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