Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-26

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)

There is an ongoing trend in many countries where family members run their family business together. Although family businesses provide job satisfaction, it has more disadvantages related to financial stability and work life balance

Firstly, family businesses often risk financial safety. When individuals decide to start a family business, they often resign their current job and completely spend their time for their new business. Every new business needs couple of years to become stable in the market. Since every family member works for their company, sometimes they struggle to handle house-hold expenses and children education during this period. For example, businesses often face up and down based on the market. when husband and wife work for the same business, they might struggle financially during this down period. Overall, working together in a family businesses often leads to less financial stability.

Secondly, family members often need to compromise their family time for the success of the family business. When individuals work for a 9 to 5 job they may become free after 5pm and they would get enough family time after their work. However, when people run a family business, they often need to go on shifts for the success of their business. . For instance, when husband and wife run a coffee shop, they forcefully need to go on rotation shifts for the smooth working of their business. As a result, this reduces their family time and eventually leads to lack of communication between members.

To conclude,Since individuals get an opportunity for descision making, family businesses create higher job satisfaction. However, when family members don't have any other income, family businesses often create financial difficulties. Additionally, it reduced family time between the members

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: you argue that family businesses have more disadvantages, while acknowledging job satisfaction as an advantage. The two main reasons—financial insecurity and reduced family time—are relevant and supported with examples, such as a couple running a coffee shop in shifts. This addresses the task, but the advantages are only briefly mentioned, especially in the conclusion, and the financial point is repeated rather than further developed. To strengthen the response, explain the job-satisfaction benefit in the main discussion and clarify how the examples demonstrate that disadvantages outweigh it. Your ideas are generally relevant, though some are less fully developed than others.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting disadvantages, and a conclusion. “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “To conclude” make the progression easy to follow, and each body paragraph has a central focus. However, some linking is mechanical, and the conclusion introduces the advantage of decision-making without developing it earlier. There is also a sentence fragment in the second body paragraph (“For instance…” is preceded by an extra full stop), which interrupts the flow. Improve cohesion by connecting examples more explicitly to the claims they support and by ensuring the conclusion synthesises points already discussed rather than adding a new one.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “financial stability,” “market,” “rotation shifts,” and “job satisfaction,” so the main ideas are understandable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or awkward: “financial safety,” “spend their time for,” “up and down,” and “smooth working” do not sound natural in context. There are also spelling and word-form problems, such as “descision making” and “house-hold.” These errors do not prevent understanding, but they reduce precision and sometimes make the reader pause. Build a wider set of natural business and family-life collocations, and check spelling and word forms during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses beginning with “Although,” “When,” and “Since,” and most of the argument remains understandable. However, errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and punctuation are noticeable. For example, “family businesses… it has” mismatches plural and singular, while “a family businesses” has an incorrect article and plural form. “Additionally, it reduced family time” also shifts tense in the conclusion. Punctuation is inconsistent, including the extra full stop before “For instance” and missing spacing after “To conclude,”. Review subject–verb agreement and maintain consistent tense, then proofread sentence boundaries and punctuation.

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