Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-08

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 today's era, most of the individuals prefer to be self-employed, instead of working for a company or organization. This essay will discuss some reasons for this statement and a couple of setbacks of being self-employed.

There are plethora of reasons why individuals like to be self-employed. The primary one is freedom. To describe more, in own business humans can do work by their own willingness. People are free to take holidays whenever they want. Moreover, in own business there are no restrictions. Additionally, no one is there to supervise them. Although becoming self-employed require a considerable amount of hard hard working and struggle, it gives chance to work independently without any workload by manager. The another factor is low-pay in companies. Nowadays, organizations are not paying enough income to employee according to their desires.

On the other hand, there are few demerits of being self-employed. People can procrastinate their work because of excessive freedom and they become sluggish also. Apart from these, sometimes people can made mistakes in workplace because no one is their to guide them in a right decision. Person who is self-employed may sometimes feels anxiety due to work pressure because they have to complete all the work alone. Nobody is there to help them. In addition, people can loose their teamwork ability which is not good for their future, because in teamwork we have opportunity to learn new ideas from others.

To sum up, main factors to become self-employed are low income and freedom to take holidays. However, there are some disadvantages of self-employed such as procrastination, sluggish behavior, increase stress, lack of teamwork ability.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a relevant focus: freedom and low pay are offered as reasons, while procrastination, lack of guidance, stress, and reduced teamwork are presented as disadvantages. The examples are understandable, but several points need fuller explanation to meet the task more completely. For instance, you say self-employment allows people to take holidays freely, but do not explain how this freedom motivates them or qualify it against business responsibilities. The point about low pay is also asserted rather than illustrated or developed. Similarly, the disadvantages are listed, but a specific example would clarify how working alone can create pressure or errors. Develop fewer ideas with reasons or examples, and make the links between each idea and the question explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for reasons and disadvantages, and a conclusion that summarises the main points. This logical arrangement makes the argument easy to follow. You also use a range of linking expressions, including “Moreover,” “On the other hand,” and “In addition,” and the contrast between benefits and drawbacks is clear. To make cohesion more flexible and natural, avoid relying on a sequence of additive markers and lists. Several sentences begin with “People” or “Additionally,” and the conclusion repeats points without drawing them together. Use clearer referencing and show cause and effect between ideas—for example, explain how freedom may lead to procrastination—so the progression feels more connected rather than itemised.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to discuss the topic, including relevant terms such as “self-employed,” “supervise,” “work pressure,” and “teamwork ability.” There are also attempts at less common expressions, but some choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, which limits precision. For example, “in own business” and “by their own willingness” do not express the intended ideas naturally; “low-pay” is also awkward in this context. Spelling and word-form errors such as “loose” for “lose” and “hard hard working” further affect control. Aim to learn vocabulary in common phrases and check spelling and word forms. More precise terms for income, independence, and business responsibilities would help you express your points clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a concession beginning “Although” and a reason introduced by “because.” Most of the message remains understandable, but errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction occur across the response. Examples include “becoming self-employed require,” “people can made mistakes,” and “may sometimes feels anxiety”; these should use correctly formed verbs and agree with their subjects. Articles and noun phrases also need attention, as in “in own business” and “a right decision.” Some sentences combine several ideas without clear grammatical control. Practise checking each sentence for its subject and verb, then review articles and singular/plural forms. Greater accuracy in these patterns would make your range of structures more effective.

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