Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-12

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 4.5)

In this modern era, it is often argued that youth is spending more time in using technology such as mobile phones and social media which impact their studies and relationships adversely. The main causes are parents working after hours and advancement of technology. This problem can be tackled by strict schedules of parents, and put some restrictions on usage of technology.

Firstly, now both the parents are working, and they are not spending quality time with their families, hence, children are using smartphones and social media to keep themselves busy. For instance, mothers are so occupied with their work that if their children need them, instead of helping them, they hire helpers to raise their child. In this case, the child never gets an emotional connection with her mother. Secondly, students are using AI for their assignments, and even their exams which is making them lazy.

There are some solutions that we can use to tackle this situation. Parents should avoid answering office phone calls when they are home, and they should follow a strict rule of not using smartphones on the dining table.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The student has written a response that is entirely off-topic. The prompt asks whether family businesses have more advantages than disadvantages, whereas the student's text discusses young people using technology and mobile phones, and parents working long hours. Because the prompt was completely misunderstood and the required word count of 250 words was not met (the response is only 184 words), the task has not been adequately fulfilled. In terms of Task Achievement, the response falls into the lowest bands because it addresses a different topic altogether and fails to meet the length requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

Despite being off-topic, the text demonstrates some basic organisational structure. The writer attempts to sequence ideas using transitional markers such as 'Firstly', 'For instance', 'Secondly', and 'There are some solutions'. Paragraphing is attempted, though the paragraphs are relatively brief. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or overused, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as shifting abruptly from working parents to AI usage in assignments. Overall, the logical flow is somewhat present within the micro-arguments, but the macro-coherence suffers due to the completely irrelevant subject matter.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The lexical resource used in the response is adequate for basic communication, though it features a limited and repetitive range. Phrases like 'modern era', 'social media', and 'smartphones' are used correctly. However, there are notable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'youth is spending more time in using technology' (instead of 'spending more time using') and 'put some restrictions on usage' (lacking parallelism). Less common vocabulary is attempted with mixed success. Spelling is generally accurate throughout the short text.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'In this modern era, it is often argued that...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several errors, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'youth is spending' (youth is often treated as plural or collective in a different context, but 'youth are' or 'young people are' would be more natural), and awkward phrasing like 'put some restrictions on usage' which lacks a clear subject or coordinate structure. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while errors occur, they do not completely impede the communication of the writer's ideas.

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