Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-21

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 my opinion, the main reason why many people choose self-employment, rather than working for a company or organisation is due to increased workload, a non-flexible shift, longer working hours, lower income, and a feeling of being overwhelmed and stressed.

Self-employment comes with its pros and cons, one of the disadvantages could be that it requires experience for an individual to be able to make their own business setup work. I believe that being self-employed requires you to have financial stability or investment, especially in case of your own business. It doesn't come with benefits like increment, bonus, and medical insurance that are offered to an employee working for a company, but it does have its pros that outweigh these benefits.

If i could give a personal example for a better understanding, it would be of my father. My father used to work for a private company before being self-employed. During that time period, it was really hard for him to manage all the expenses, working an 8 hr shift, coming home completely exhausted, always irritated and he couldn't even make time for himself and his family. Following his retirement, my father started his own Air-bnb, after gaining some experience in this field of work, which he mostly manages remotely, has no fixed working hours, no workload, the revenue generated is good, and he feels less overwhelmed .

This experience has drawn me to the conclusion that self-employment is a better option than working for some organisation, not only because of the reasons stated above, but also due to the fact that it doesn't drain your energy and makes u feel less consumed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a clear view that self-employment can be preferable. The personal example about your father makes the advantages concrete, particularly the contrast between fixed shifts and managing an Airbnb remotely. However, the reasons for choosing self-employment are not clearly separated or fully explained: the opening lists workload, inflexible shifts, long hours and low income, but does not show how these pressures lead people to become self-employed. The disadvantages are also identified—such as needing experience and financial stability, and losing employment benefits—but receive less development than the advantages. Explain the risks with a specific consequence, such as irregular income or responsibility for business costs, and balance the discussion more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: it introduces reasons, discusses disadvantages, gives a personal example and ends with a conclusion. The example is relevant and helps the reader follow the comparison. However, the progression is not always smooth. The first paragraph presents a list without explaining the links between the points, while the second moves from disadvantages to the claim that the advantages outweigh them without establishing that comparison. The long sentence about your father also combines several details, making the sequence harder to follow. Use clearer topic sentences and divide the example into shorter stages; connect each reason to its consequence with linking phrases used naturally rather than relying mainly on broad transitions such as “Following his retirement.”

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “financial stability,” “investment,” “medical insurance,” “revenue generated” and “overwhelmed.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, and the Airbnb example gives you opportunities to use relevant business language. Some expressions are imprecise or unnatural, however: “business setup work” is unclear, “a non-flexible shift” is awkward, and “doesn’t drain your energy” and “less consumed” are informal or vague for an academic essay. “Increment” is also less natural here than “pay rise.” Aim for precise collocations and a more formal register, especially when describing the disadvantages and the final conclusion. This would make your vocabulary more flexible and accurate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex forms, including relative clauses (“which he mostly manages remotely”) and time clauses (“before being self-employed”). Most of the meaning remains clear, but some grammatical and punctuation errors are present. In the opening, the subject and verb are separated by commas in “the main reason … organisation is due to”; remove the comma and consider a clearer construction. The sentence beginning “If i could give a personal example” needs a capital “I,” and “an 8 hr shift” would be better written as “an eight-hour shift.” The final sentence also shifts to informal “u,” and the long sentence about your father would benefit from being split to control its structure. More consistently accurate sentence boundaries and formal forms would strengthen the response.

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