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)

Nowadays many people choose to work as self-employed or personal business instead of working for a company or organisation.

People now prefer to work as self-employed or self business because it provides them the sense of freedom and better income opportunities. When indivisuals work for themselves or as a freelance, they are not dependent on the working hours and other office requirements. For example, they can work from anywhere and anytime. They can tend to decide for their business and make their own decisions. Moreover, self-employment gives them the oppotunity to be directly connected with the client. Furthermore, it gives them the professional abilities and exposure to build portfolio.

Although self-employed is convenient and better option if you see it from the lifetime perspective. However, it has some disadvantages as well. There's no proper working hours for the people who work as self-employed or freelance. They tend to work day and night with no time for relaxation. Also they don't get to work in team as mostly they work all by themselves or with limited team members. Moreover, most of the work has to be handled by them alone as compared to a company where they have numerous people for different scope of work. For example, when you work in a marketing at an organisation. You have several people such as graphic designer, video editor, content creator, web developer or business manager, whereas self-employed people mostly have limited team member that handle all the work as they need time to grow their business.

In conclusion, although self-employed has disadvantages such as heavy workload or incovenience but it cannot overpower the independence, freedom and sense of achievement provided to the self-employed person.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses both questions and maintains a clear overall view: freedom, income opportunities and client contact are presented as reasons for self-employment, while long hours and carrying multiple responsibilities are identified as drawbacks. The marketing example usefully illustrates the contrast with a larger organisation. This meets the task well, and the explanation of workload is more developed than some other points. However, the income benefit and professional exposure are asserted rather than explained, and the disadvantages could be explored more fully—for instance, financial uncertainty or lack of employee benefits would add depth. The conclusion restates the preference for independence, though it could more directly summarise the reasons and trade-offs. More balanced development and specific support would strengthen the response further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining why people choose self-employment, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a conclusion. Ideas generally progress in a sensible order, and examples support the discussion. Linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “Furthermore,” and “For example” help signal relationships, but their repeated use makes some connections feel mechanical. The opening of the disadvantages paragraph—“Although self-employed is convenient… However”—uses two contrasting signals together, and the reference to “it” in that sentence is not entirely clear. The long marketing example also contains several details that could be grouped more tightly. Use a wider range of linking methods and clearer references to make the progression smoother.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate its main points, including “freelance,” “client,” “portfolio,” “workload,” and “independence.” Some phrases show an attempt to be precise, such as “professional abilities and exposure,” although the wording is not fully natural. There are noticeable spelling errors, including “indivisuals,” “oppotunity,” and “incovenience,” and several awkward or inaccurate collocations, such as “self business,” “better income opportunities,” and “different scope of work.” Repetition of “self-employed” and “work” also limits flexibility. These choices do not prevent the reader from understanding the argument, but more accurate collocations, varied phrasing, and careful proofreading would improve lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay includes both straightforward statements and attempts at more complex structures, for example, “When individuals work for themselves…,” “Although self-employed is convenient…,” and the extended comparison beginning “whereas self-employed people…”. Meaning is generally clear, but some grammatical errors recur. The sentence beginning “Although self-employed is convenient” is incomplete as written and is followed by a contrasting “However” clause; “self-employment” would also be needed as the subject. Other examples include “They can tend to decide,” where the verb pattern is faulty, and “limited team member,” where number agreement is incorrect. Some sentences are long and would benefit from clearer clause boundaries. More reliable control of sentence patterns, articles, and singular/plural forms would improve accuracy.

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