Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-18

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 4.0)

Nowadays majority of the individials want to work on their own ease, therefore they choose to to be self-employed instead of working at a company or organisation. In some cases like stress, workload, overtime from the company a person will definetly lean to be self-employed; but there are also disadvantage of being self-employed.

On one hand, yound people want to earn more, and they get jobs in huge co-oprate companies like marketing, insurances, whereas some work as a consultion too. Working at such huge industries every individuals face problems like mental and physical stress,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The response makes a relevant start by identifying workplace stress, workload and overtime as reasons people may prefer self-employment, and it signals that disadvantages also exist. However, it does not develop either part of the question: no specific disadvantages are explained, and the reasons are only briefly listed rather than supported with examples. The reference to young people seeking higher earnings and working in large companies is not clearly connected to why they choose self-employment. The response also falls short of the required minimum length, leaving the task substantially incomplete. To improve, explain several clear reasons and disadvantages, then support each with a relevant example and a direct explanation of its effect.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an opening paragraph introduces the topic, and the next begins with “On one hand” to introduce a reason. Linking words such as “therefore,” “whereas” and “but” show an effort to connect ideas. However, the progression is difficult to follow because the second paragraph shifts from self-employment to jobs in large companies without explaining the relationship. The contrast signalled by “On one hand” is not completed, and the final sentence ends abruptly. Use separate paragraphs for reasons and disadvantages, make each paragraph develop one main point, and use clear links between the examples and the question.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses some relevant topic vocabulary, including “self-employed,” “workload,” “overtime,” “stress” and “consultant,” so the general subject is understandable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or forms are inaccurate, such as “work on their own ease,” “huge co-oprate companies” and “consultion.” Spelling errors including “individials,” “definetly” and “yound” also reduce accuracy. Some phrases, such as “huge industries,” are imprecise in context. Build a more accurate range for discussing independence, income and business risks, and check spelling and collocations carefully. More precise vocabulary would help express the ideas without relying on broad or unclear wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response attempts both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a sentence with “therefore” and a contrast introduced by “but.” Meaning is generally recoverable, but grammatical control is inconsistent. For example, “Nowadays majority of the individuals” is missing an article, “they choose to to be” repeats the infinitive marker, and “there are also disadvantage” has a plural agreement error. The sentence beginning “Working at such huge industries” is left incomplete, and punctuation around the long opening sentence makes the relationship between clauses unclear. Practise accurate articles, agreement and complete sentence construction, then use a wider range of sentence patterns while checking that each sentence has a clear main clause.

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