Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-08

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 5.5)

In present time,it become more common in several countries that family members work togather in family company. Although it offers many benefits, it also has some drawbacks. This essay will explain the pros and cons of family-owned business.

On the one hand, Family owned busines has numerous benefits. Firstly, Stability and long term commitment. For instance, if a person work in his own company he will be more commited toward work and growth of the company and he will remain stable and cosistant. Secondly, there will be more trust and loyalty, as everyone will be concerned about companies reputation. Furthermore, family businesses driven by inherent foundation so turnover rates are less than public corporations. Finaly, emotional conflicts from houshold can easily effect decision making, as owner will take baised decisons after dispute and then this will lead business toward failure.

On the other hand, despite these benefits there are also some disadvantages of family business. The main concern is slection of employess as mostly owners select their family members rather than professional merit. Other issue is the dispute on succession when owner retires or passed away. Moreover, employees often struggle with unstuctured role, feeling obligated to work excessive hours out of family loylaty. This lack of corporate structure frequently leads to role confusion, severe stress.

To sumup, family business provides benefits like stability, loyalty, and less turnover, but it can also lead to baised selection, role confusion and heavy emotional stress. Overall, there are more advantages than disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both sides of the question and give a clear final view: “Overall, there are more advantages than disadvantages.” Relevant benefits include commitment, trust and lower turnover, while drawbacks include biased hiring, succession disputes and role confusion. However, the discussion does not fully establish why the advantages outweigh the disadvantages: the paragraph on benefits ends with emotional conflict leading to failure, which is actually a drawback, and the conclusion does not compare the relative importance of the points. Examples are mostly general rather than specific. The response is also two words below the required minimum. Develop the comparison more explicitly and add a concrete example to support your position.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a concluding opinion. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “To sum up” helps readers follow the organisation. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, with several points introduced as a list using “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “Furthermore.” More importantly, the final point in the advantages paragraph—emotional conflicts affecting decisions—does not fit that paragraph’s purpose and interrupts the progression. Some links between ideas are also abrupt. Group related points more carefully, use a wider range of natural transitions, and make the relationship between each example and its main point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “long term commitment,” “trust and loyalty,” “succession,” and “role confusion.” These choices show an attempt to discuss business issues beyond basic everyday language. However, spelling errors and inaccurate word forms are noticeable, for example “togather,” “commited,” “cosistant,” “slection,” and “unstuctured.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “family businesses driven by inherent foundation” and “biased decisions after dispute.” These errors do not prevent the overall message from being understood, but they reduce precision and fluency. Check spelling carefully and learn common collocations for business topics, such as “professional qualifications” and “business reputation.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional structure in “if a person work in his own company he will be more committed” and a clause beginning “as everyone will be concerned.” The overall meaning is generally understandable, but errors in verb forms, articles, agreement and punctuation occur across the response. For example, “In present time,it become” needs a more accurate tense and article pattern, while “if a person work” requires subject–verb agreement. The sentence beginning “Finaly, emotional conflicts…” is also difficult to follow because its relationship to the preceding points is not clearly expressed. Practise checking each sentence for a complete structure, correct verb agreement and appropriate punctuation.

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