Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-07

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)

People choose to be self-employed over having a job due to various reasons. Being self-employed gives one flexible work-hours as compared to a standard 9 to 5 for example. When working for a company or an organisation, one has to follow a routine that includes waking up on a certain time, commute to and from the workplace and only getting a few hours of the day for family and self. Being a salaried person, one is provided with a limited number of leaves. In addition work hours might differ than agreed if the job is demanding leading to overwork and sometimes this overtime is unpaid. Having a manager who is not understanding of one's situation can lead to burn-out very quickly.

For example, working as a process engineer at a renowned chemial manufacturing plant i was only given 22 days of annual leaves and on paper the job was from 8am to 4pm. However, the commute alone to and from the plant was 3 hours daily. In addition, overwork was glorified and there was no pay for overtime. I was on occassion expected to work 16 hours excluding the commute when plant was shutdown and the weekends were on during this period. In addition, while I was employed there my manager was un-supportive and a bully which led to severe self-esteem issues, burn-out and depression.

The above stated points with example might be a few good reasons people choose to be self-employed. Being self-employed comes with its own disadvantages. Starting a business for example can deprive your savings r capital investment quickly if you are not educated or experienced in the field. Several risks are included with starting a business. As mentioned earlier, loss of capital or difficulty managing the business if one is without support. The expansion and recruitment etc the task that come with it can be hectic if one is not passionate he/she may fail which costs financially and mentally.

Apart from that being self-employed comes with a loss of routine and one might loose their motivation to stay consistent. Businesses do not produced income right away so this is the biggest risk associated with being self-employed one must have other source of income to support themselves. Havingsecure income is one of the advantages of being salaried person.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response addresses both questions and gives a clear explanation of why people may choose self-employment, especially greater control over working hours and avoiding an unsupportive manager. The personal example about long commutes, unpaid overtime and limited leave makes these reasons concrete. You also identify relevant disadvantages, including financial risk, difficulty managing a business, loss of routine and uncertain income. However, the disadvantages are less fully explained than the reasons for choosing self-employment: for instance, the point about recruitment and expansion is introduced but not clearly developed. To strengthen the response, explain how these challenges affect a self-employed person and support them with a specific example, while keeping the discussion balanced.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: it first explains motivations, then gives a personal example, and finally discusses disadvantages. Paragraphing helps the reader follow this progression, and links such as “For example” and “Apart from that” signal relationships between ideas. This meets the lower-band expectation of an overall coherent arrangement and shows some of the clearer progression associated with the next level. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or unclear. “The above stated points with example” refers back awkwardly, while “As mentioned earlier” does not make the connection to the business risks precise. The final paragraph also introduces several points in quick succession. Use clearer topic sentences and explicit links between each claim and its explanation to make the progression more consistently smooth.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “flexible work-hours,” “limited number of leaves,” “loss of capital,” “recruitment” and “secure income.” Some choices show an attempt to express specific ideas, such as “overwork was glorified” and “self-esteem issues.” However, there are several spelling and word-choice errors, including “chemial,” “occassion,” “loose” where “lose” is intended, and “Businesses do not produced income.” Some collocations are also awkward, such as “the weekends were on during this period” and “other source of income.” These do not prevent understanding, but they limit precision. Proofread spelling and choose more natural phrases, for example “weekend work was expected” and “another source of income.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response includes both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional construction (“if you are not educated or experienced”) and clauses explaining consequences (“which led to severe self-esteem issues”). Meaning is generally clear, but some grammatical errors remain. Examples include “waking up on a certain time” (preposition), “I was only given 22 days” following the shift into a first-person account without consistent capitalisation, “the task that come with it” (agreement), and “Businesses do not produced income” (verb form). The final sentence, “Havingsecure income is one of the advantages of being salaried person,” also lacks necessary spacing and articles. Review agreement, verb forms, articles and sentence boundaries, then proofread carefully; this will make the varied structures more consistently accurate.

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