Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-23

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 have opted for self employement rather than to work for a company or an established organisation. this trend attributes to the desire for greater independence and flexibility, however working alone can also invove considerable financial and professional risks.

One major reason why people choose be self employed is the freedom it provides. Unlike conventional employees, self employed individuals have greater control over their working hours, workload and business decisions. this can be attractive to the people who priotorize better work life balance or someone who have more fsmily responsibilities. For example, a freelance graphic designer can decide when and ehere to work and can potentially accept projects that fits around personal commitments. In addition, the self-employement may offer greater financial opportunities as individuals are not restricted to a fixed saary and a single project and can increase their income by expanding their businessortaking some more clients.

The growth of digital platformsand remote working has made in considerably easier for individuals to offer their skills and sevices independentally.It is benificial for both the employee and the organisation as it cut down the running cost such as renting an office, electricity bills and transportaion facilities.

Neverthless, being self-employed has several significant disadvantages. The most obvious is financial uncertanity. The employees usually recive a regular salary and may have accessto benifitssuch as paid holidays, health insurance. During periods of weak demand their income can fal substancially.Furthermore, running a business requires considerable responsibility. Self-employed individuals may have to manage finances, marketing, taxation and customer relationships in addition to performing their primary professional duties. This can result in long working hours and considerable pressure.

In conclusion, people increasingly choose self-employment because it offers independence, flexibility and potentially greater financial rewards, particularly in the digital economy. However, these advantages must be weighed against unstable income, fewer employment benefits and the greater responsibility involved. Therefore, self-employment can be rewarding, but it requires careful financial planning and strong organisational skills.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt, investigating both the reasons behind choosing self-employment (independence, flexibility, financial opportunities) and the inherent disadvantages (financial uncertainty, long working hours, lack of benefits). The position is clear throughout, and main ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as the freelance graphic designer. While some points could be slightly more deeply explored, the overall development meets the requirements of a Band 7 performance, as all aspects of the prompt are given due attention with a clear and consistent stance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a clear overall progression with logical organisation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as reasons for self-employment, digital impacts, disadvantages, and the conclusion. Cohesive devices are generally used effectively, though there are minor issues with referencing and mechanical transitions in places (e.g., lowercase 'this' starting sentences and missing capitals). Despite these minor mechanical cohesion errors, the overall arrangement is coherent, guiding the reader smoothly through the argument, which firmly places this within the Band 6.5 to 7 range, rounding to 6.5 based on punctuation and surface cohesion slips.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary appropriate for an academic discussion, including terms like 'conventional employees', 'work-life balance', 'digital platforms', and 'financial uncertainty'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, such as 'self employement', 'invove', 'priotorize', 'fsmily', 'ehere', 'saary', 'businessortaking', 'benificial', 'independentally', 'uncertanity', 'recive', 'accessto', 'benifitssuch', and 'fal substancially'. These lexical and spelling inaccuracies reflect a Band 6 level, where an adequate range is shown, but recurring spelling mistakes and occasional imprecise word choices prevent a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over relative clauses and conditional structures (e.g., 'Unlike conventional employees, self employed individuals have greater control...'). However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors, including missing capitalization at the beginning of sentences ('this trend attributes...', 'this can be attractive...'), missing prepositions ('choose be self employed'), and article errors ('the self-employement'). The frequency of these surface-level errors places the grammar in the Band 6 category, as they do not impede overall communication but persist throughout the text.

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