Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-22

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)

These days, many individuals select to be self-employed, instead of working under a compony or organization. I partly agree work with self employment or work from home for two main reasons firstly, no pressure of rude boss or officer secondly, time saving and we can do it any time. In this essay, i will discuss benifites of self employment and causes of it.

Self employment gives a freedom of working any time moreover, it saves money of travelling and travelling

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The response identifies two possible reasons for self-employment—avoiding a rude boss and saving travel time or money—but these points are only briefly stated. It does not explain the disadvantages, which is a central part of the question, and the opening says “I partly agree” even though the task asks for reasons and disadvantages rather than an opinion on whether self-employment is preferable. The response is also substantially below the required minimum length, leaving both parts of the task largely undeveloped and without relevant examples. To improve, address each question directly: explain why people choose this work, then discuss specific drawbacks such as unstable income or lack of employee benefits, supporting each point with an example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an introductory paragraph is followed by a paragraph beginning “Self employment gives a freedom.” The reader can identify the intended reasons, and “firstly” and “secondly” signal a sequence. However, the ideas do not develop into a complete, coherent response, and the second paragraph ends abruptly with the repeated phrase “travelling.” The opening sentence also combines several points in a way that makes their relationships unclear. Use separate paragraphs for the reasons and disadvantages, and connect each main idea to an explanation or example. Avoid relying on a list-like sequence; clear topic sentences and complete development would make the progression easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the basic topic, with relevant phrases such as “self-employed,” “rude boss,” and “saves money of travelling.” However, the range is narrow and some choices or forms are inaccurate, including “compony,” “benifites,” and “gives a freedom.” “Work from home” is also introduced as if it means the same thing as self-employment, although these are not necessarily identical. These issues make the writing less precise and natural. Build a more accurate set of topic vocabulary and check spelling and collocations. For example, you could refer to “greater control over working hours,” “commuting costs,” and “financial insecurity” when explaining the advantages and disadvantages.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response uses mostly simple sentence patterns, with an attempt to combine ideas in the opening through “firstly” and “secondly.” Some meaning is understandable, but sentence boundaries and punctuation are not controlled consistently: the opening runs several claims together, and the final sentence is incomplete. There are also errors in grammatical forms, as in “I partly agree work with self employment,” and the phrase “Self employment gives a freedom” has an incorrect article pattern. Capitalisation is inconsistent, including lowercase “i.” Practise writing complete sentences with one clear main clause, then add subordinate clauses to explain reasons. Check articles, sentence punctuation, and capital letters during proofreading.

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