Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-09

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, people have been choosing self-employment over working in a company or an organisation although this has disadvantages aswell.

The first reason for individuals for going towards self-employment is the salary package offered by a comapany or an organisation. Alot of places offer what employees don't deserve which decrese their motivation and it becomes hard for them to continue the work. Second, the enviornment which companies and organisations sometimes make toxic to work in. Different perspectives of every person make things hard to live under one roof along with the work load. For example, some workers at offices play politics to impress their higher authorities by doing extra chores through hacks and tricks which at times is unfair for the individuals working with whole pure efforts. These situations end up person having a thought of leaving that place and be self-employed.

However, self-employment also includes drawsbacks, one of them is, they need to start their setup from zero. As many organisations or companies are already well settled to be successful, own setup needs the publication, time, and investement. These things can at some point become hard to manage as not many can afford huge investments. Other disadvantage for it can be the success rate. Every business requires a certain time period to be built and go on a success rate which sometimes can not be promising. For instance, a person with new startup of cotton business would never win from a company or an organisation which is already doing this job from past many years.

In conclusion, most of the people are going towards the self-employment due to the package and work enviornment while self-employment itself involves many other drawbacks which needs to be looked into before selecting that path.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both questions and maintains a relevant focus: it attributes self-employment to dissatisfaction with pay and workplace culture, then discusses the costs and uncertain success of starting a business. The example of office politics helps illustrate the first reason, while the cotton-business comparison supports the point about competition. However, some ideas are less fully explained than others. The discussion of pay is unclear because “what employees don't deserve” does not specify whether the pay is too low or otherwise unfair. The disadvantages would be stronger if you explained more directly how investment and an uncertain start-up period affect an individual. Clarifying these points and extending the examples would make the response more convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for reasons and disadvantages, and a conclusion that summarises the main points. The progression from workplace dissatisfaction to the challenges of establishing a business is easy to follow. You also use signposting such as “The first reason,” “Second,” “However,” and “In conclusion,” which helps readers navigate the response. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some stronger control through paragraphing and logical sequencing. To make cohesion more flexible, reduce reliance on numbered transitions and connect related ideas more naturally. Some links are also unclear, particularly “These situations end up person having a thought,” where the relationship between the examples and the conclusion needs a more precise sentence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “self-employment,” “toxic,” “investments,” “success rate,” and “higher authorities,” so the reader can understand the main discussion. However, the range and control are limited, and several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors weaken precision. Examples include “drawsbacks,” “enviornment,” and “investement”; “publication” appears to be an inaccurate choice for the resources needed to establish a business. Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “go on a success rate” and “live under one roof” in this context. Aim to learn common business collocations and check spelling carefully. More precise wording would help express your ideas without changing their meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes both simple sentences and attempts at more complex structures, such as “although this has disadvantages” and the sentence beginning “As many organisations or companies are already well settled.” Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors affect clarity. For example, “These situations end up person having a thought” needs a clearer subject and verb pattern, while “self-employment itself involves many other drawbacks which needs” has a subject–verb agreement error. There are also problems with articles and sentence construction, as in “one of them is, they need to start their setup from zero.” Work on building accurate clauses and checking agreement, articles, and punctuation. Greater control of these patterns would make the complex sentences easier to read.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.