Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-14
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, a large number of people prefer to work temselves rather than that working for a company. I will discuss this trend in the upcoming paragraph with the disadvantage of being self-employed.
To commence with, there are many reason associated with it. The frist and foremost point is, freedom and flexibilty. To expain this, being self employed means a person can choose their own working hours, place of work and type of work. For example, a freelance graphic desinger can work from home and take holidays any time, without asking a boss. Moreover, another point is, higher income potential. To justify this, in ajob, salary is fixed, but in self employment, if someone works hard, they can earn more money. Additionally, many people do not like the pressure and office politices of a company job, so they want to be their own boss and make their own decision.
On the other hand, the disadvantage of being self-employed is no job security. To eloborate this, a regular employe gets a fixed salary every month, but a self employed person may not get work every month. If they are sick or there are no client, they have no income. Furthermore, next point is they have to mange everything by themselves. To presize this, such as finding customers, markting, accounting and taxes. This can be very stressful and time consuming. For instance, a shop owner has many staff, bills and customer complains alone. Finally, they do not get benefits like paid holidays, sick leave or permission, which company employes gernally recive.
In conclusion, although beign self-employed for freedom and mak life easier is beneficial. However, it do not provide job security also make life more stressfull.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5
You address both questions and maintain a relevant focus: the reasons include flexibility, earning potential and dislike of workplace pressure, while the disadvantages include uncertain income, administrative responsibilities and fewer employment benefits. The freelance designer and shop-owner examples help make these points concrete. This meets the task well, but development is uneven: the reasons are explained with several details, whereas the disadvantages are mostly listed, and the shop-owner example does not fully clarify how managing staff and bills creates difficulty. The conclusion also introduces the unclear idea that self-employment can “make life easier” without reconciling it with the disadvantages. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation and ensure the final position accurately summarises your discussion.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Ideas generally progress in a sensible order, and examples are placed alongside the points they support. However, linking is sometimes mechanical: repeated frames such as “To explain this,” “To justify this,” and “To elaborate this” make the paragraph sound formulaic. Some transitions also do not express the relationship precisely, as in “Furthermore, next point,” while the conclusion’s “although … However” construction creates an awkward contrast. Use fewer signposting phrases and connect ideas through their meaning—for example, explain directly how irregular work leads to financial insecurity. Clearer links between the conclusion and the body would make the progression more consistent.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
You communicate the main ideas using relevant vocabulary such as “freedom and flexibility,” “job security,” “fixed salary,” and “paid holidays.” There are also attempts at topic-specific language, including “freelance graphic designer” and “accounting and taxes.” However, spelling and word-choice errors are frequent enough to make this vocabulary less controlled: “temselves,” “frist,” “flexibilty,” “desinger,” “eloborate,” and “gernally recive” obscure or distract from otherwise clear points. Some combinations are also unnatural, such as “office politices” and “customer complains.” Build accuracy by checking spelling and learning common collocations as complete phrases. More precise alternatives such as “workplace politics” and “customer complaints” would improve clarity and naturalness.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
You use a mixture of simple statements and longer sentences, including conditional structures such as “if someone works hard, they can earn more money” and “If they are sick … they have no income.” Most ideas remain understandable, but grammatical control is inconsistent. Examples include “there are many reason,” “a regular employe gets,” and “there are no client,” where plural agreement is needed; “being self-employed … is beneficial” is also awkwardly formed in the conclusion. The opening phrase “rather than that working for a company” shows difficulty constructing a comparison, and “although … However” creates a faulty sentence connection. Practise accurate comparisons, subject–verb agreement, articles and plural forms, then proofread sentence boundaries. This would make your varied sentence attempts more reliable.
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.