Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-15

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 5.0)

In some countries, running a family business has become increasingly commmon. while this trend offers numerous benefits such as freedom, flexibility and job security, it also presents certain drawbacks like excessive responsibilities. Overall, I believe advantages are far more significant than disadvantages.

One of the primary merits is that it provides more freedom. This is largely because individual has monoply and can work according to their preferences. For example, if unforseen ungency comes, individuals are not free from taking permission from seniors. Moreover, it offers more flexibility.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response is severely under-length, containing only 87 words compared to the required minimum of 250 words. As a direct result, the task is addressed only minimally and remains severely underdeveloped. While the student attempts to establish a clear position in the introduction stating that 'advantages are far more significant than disadvantages,' the development is abruptly cut short after introducing only a single point regarding freedom and flexibility. According to the band descriptors, a response of this length cannot adequately cover all parts of the task or extend ideas sufficiently, capping the task achievement score strictly at a Band 4.0 level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text demonstrates a basic attempt at logical organization with a clear introductory paragraph followed by a body paragraph. Cohesive devices are utilized, such as 'while', 'Overall', 'One of the primary merits', and 'Moreover', which show some awareness of paragraph progression. However, because the text breaks off prematurely after only two paragraphs, it is difficult to fully assess higher-level cohesion and paragraphing. Referencing is generally clear, but the lack of an overall conclusion and the extremely truncated body development prevent the writing from achieving higher than a Band 5.0 for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the limited output produced, attempting some less common or topic-related words such as 'commmon', 'monoply', 'unforseen', and 'ungency' (intended urgency). However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, including double 'm' in 'commmon', misspelling of 'monopoly', 'unforeseen', and 'urgency'. Phrases like 'free from taking permission' are unnatural in collocated English. Because these lexical errors cause some minor difficulty for the reader and the overall range remains restricted by the short length, a Band 5.0 is awarded.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing introductory subordinate clauses such as 'while this trend offers numerous benefits...' and conditional structures like 'if unforseen ungency comes'. However, control over grammar and mechanics is inconsistent, with errors such as 'individual has monoply' (missing article) and 'individuals are not free from taking permission' (awkward grammatical structure). There are also capitalization errors at the start of sentences ('while'). Despite these flaws, the basic meaning remains mostly intelligible, aligning well with the Band 5.0 descriptors for grammatical range and accuracy.

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

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