Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-14

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Write about the following topic:

In many countries, family members work together in their family business.

Do you think family businesses have more advantages than disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

It has become increasingly common for people to work in a family business instead of doing a job in a office. Although it raises several issues among family members, I believe its merits are significantly far more than its demerits.

One main advantage of working in a family business is that it provides independence. When people work in a family business, they do not need to work under someone. They may have freedom to work as many hours as they want. They can set their schedule according to their preferences, which may reduces a lot of burden.

Strong bonding among family members is another benefit of working in family business. This is because if all family members work together, they can spend quality time with each other and even they can share their ideas, opinions and emotions with them. In this way, they can strengthen their bond with their loved ones.

Despite having benefits of working in a family business, individuals may face certain problems to manage it. Sometimes managing a business is not an easy task for some families because a considerable amount of money is needed to manage it properly, which may increases financial burden on them. Along with this, market research is also important for a successful business, they may need to add new products according to the demand, sometimes people fail in this process.

In conclusion, while working in a family business offers independence and build strong relationship in family members, its drawbacks cannot be ignored. In order to avoid problems that are associated with family business, people should have proper management skills.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of family businesses, presenting a clear position that the merits outweigh the demerits. The main ideas, such as independence and strong bonding as advantages, and financial burdens and management difficulties as disadvantages, are relevant to the topic. However, the ideas tend to be somewhat limited and under-developed, which aligns with the Band 6 descriptor. For example, the point about independence is slightly contradictory and lacks depth regarding how a family business actually provides more independence than other forms of employment. Similarly, the disadvantages mentioned could have been extended with more specific examples. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, but the arguments would benefit from greater elaboration and extension to reach a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a clear overall progression and logical arrangement. It is divided into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, two body paragraphs for advantages, one for disadvantages, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'One main advantage', 'Despite having benefits', and 'In conclusion'. However, there are some minor mechanical or faulty uses of cohesion and referencing. For instance, the transition between sentences within the body paragraphs can feel a bit repetitive, and pronouns are occasionally used in ways that slightly obscure precise referencing. Despite these occasional lapses, the structural progression of the essay is easy to follow, making Band 6 the most accurate descriptor for this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate their ideas effectively. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary and phrases, such as 'significantly far more than its demerits', 'financial burden', and 'market research'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, as well as some minor grammatical slips involving word forms, such as 'which may reduces' and 'which may increases'. The range of vocabulary is sufficient to convey the message, but repetition of simple words like 'manage', 'business', and 'family' limits the lexical score. The errors do not impede communication, placing the response comfortably within the Band 6 criteria.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional and subordinate clauses such as 'Although it raises several issues among family members...' and 'When people work in a family business...'. However, there are several grammatical errors that persist throughout the text, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement, such as 'which may reduces' and 'which may increases'. Additionally, there is a minor prepositional error in 'in a office' instead of 'in an office'. While these errors do not impede overall communication and the writer demonstrates control over basic sentence forms, the presence of these recurring mistakes prevents the score from reaching Band 7.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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