Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-16

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)

Many well known organizations, initially started as a family business. In seversal countries relatives work as a team in their own business. When family members work together it is really easy for them to manage the business as they are on the same page, and flexibility on dividing responsibilities, and decision making. On the other hand, some of them take company benefits granted, and profit sharing issues.

Family business provides number of benefits to its owners. One of the main benefit is flexibility. If anyone want to have a vacation, they do not need to go into a long process, instead they can send an email or text to family. Further, each and everyone knows their interpersonal skills, and behaviours. Therefore, it is really easy to divide the responsibilies, and make decisions. For an instance, family businesses do not need to have a board meeting to make a decision instead they can have a coffee chat or lunch together. This creates more relax than other complex business models.

In contrast, there are some situations family members misuse the business funds, and facilities, such as taking cash for personal usage, and use benefits without authorisation. Additionally, next generation unwilling to continue the business as it is, and this creates profit sharing concerns.

In conclusion, currently in many regions, familys' started to run their own businesses because it is flexible for them to work together and easy to manage the business. However, some generational changes create issues for this by misusing assets and profits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both the advantages and disadvantages of family businesses, presenting a clear overall position. In the body paragraphs, the writer discusses flexibility, easier decision-making, and better division of responsibilities as key benefits, while noting misuse of funds and generational conflicts as drawbacks. However, some ideas remain slightly under-developed; for example, the point about profit-sharing issues is introduced in the introduction and conclusion but lacks thorough exploration in the body paragraph. Despite this, all parts of the prompt are addressed with relevant examples, such as replacing formal board meetings with casual coffee chats. This performance aligns comfortably with the Band 6 descriptors, as the main features of the topic are covered, though further extension of the supporting arguments would elevate the score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is generally coherent and follows a logical four-paragraph structure comprising an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Progression is visible as the writer shifts from advantages to disadvantages. However, cohesive devices are at times mechanical or faulty, such as the abrupt transition in 'On the other hand, some of them take company benefits granted, and profit sharing issues,' which lacks a complete predicate. Additionally, referencing is occasionally imprecise, as seen in pronouns like 'some of them' and 'this creates more relax.' Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct themes, but overall organizational flow would benefit from a wider range of smoother linking expressions and better micro-cohesion between sentences.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The lexical range is adequate for discussing the prompt, allowing the writer to communicate their ideas fairly clearly. Less common vocabulary is attempted with varying degrees of success, such as 'interpersonal skills,' 'unauthorized,' and 'generational changes.' However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, including 'seversal' instead of several, 'take company benefits granted' instead of take company benefits for granted, and 'creates more relax' instead of creates a more relaxed atmosphere. Spelling errors like 'familys'' also occur. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.0, as the vocabulary remains somewhat limited and imprecise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional structures and relative clauses such as 'If anyone want to have a vacation...' and '...next generation unwilling to continue the business...' However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('anyone want' instead of wants, 'familys' started' instead of families started), missing verbs or incomplete predicates, and awkward phrasing ('each and everyone knows their interpersonal skills'). Punctuation is generally functional, but overall, the frequency of grammatical errors causes some difficulty for the reader and prevents the writing from reaching the Band 6 threshold, where error-free sentences should be more dominant.

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