Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-29

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)

The advent of self-employment is emerging in the youngsters. Recent studies indicate that this trend is only likely to accentuate in the near future considering the ground realities of modern world. This essay shall analyse the reasons why many individuals choose to be self-employed rather than working with company or organisations.

Many entrepreneur set-up small business by their own either by depending on family or loans for financial aid. This enable them to work according to their creativity and intuitions. For instance if working under an organisation in-order to implement any policy, ideas or suggestions you need to consult the senior and get the approval. A hierarchy exists, which prevent youngsters to show case their skills and talent. Moreover, the business turnover and profit could be earned by the owner while this is not the case in company.

One major drawback is that in case of any crisis the individual will have to withstand it all alone. There is no criteria or factors to be self-employed. On the other hand if we work under company we could gain experience. Moreover at recent times government are promoting self-employment by providing many loans. Every notion has dichotomy of views. Self-employed lack job security, incentives, health insurance, retirement plans and many more. Many company's provide an offer letter where it clearly mention the salary packages. Being self-employed the salary might fluctuate because it depends on the hard work and clients based on this monthly income varies. There won't be any pension on retirement. It lacks HR team, IT professionals co-workers who could handle accounting, marketing, coordinating. It would be easy if every department work efficiently. If self-employed all should run through a single person which could be hectic and stressful to the person.

In a nutshell, self-employment has its benefits and disadvantage. If a person is talented and capable to handle everything then it is a best choice. Suffice to say that disadvantage outweigh advantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

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 creative freedom versus the lack of job security. However, the development is somewhat uneven. The explanation of why people choose self-employment is clear, but the discussion of disadvantages is a bit list-like and lacks depth in some areas. For instance, the mention of 'no criteria or factors' is vague. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your points with more specific examples or deeper analysis rather than listing multiple drawbacks in quick succession.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use some cohesive devices like 'Moreover', 'For instance', and 'In a nutshell' to link ideas. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the sentence 'There is no criteria or factors to be self-employed'. Additionally, the transition between the benefits and the drawbacks could be smoother. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that each sentence logically follows the previous one would enhance the overall coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'accentuate', 'hierarchy', 'dichotomy', and 'fluctuate'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'The advent of self-employment is emerging in the youngsters' (which is not a natural collocation) and 'Many entrepreneur set-up small business' (grammatical error in pluralisation). While your vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning, you need to work on using words in their correct context and ensuring plural forms and word endings are accurate to reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('Many entrepreneur set-up', 'government are promoting', 'Many company's provide'), missing articles ('in case of any crisis', 'in company'), and awkward phrasing ('if self-employed all should run through a single person'). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your main points, they are frequent enough to impact the overall fluency. Focusing on basic subject-verb agreement and article usage will significantly improve your accuracy.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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