Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-18
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)
It is an undeniable fact that there is an increasing number of family businesses around the world in which family members contribute to their growth. I believe that working in a family business has more advantages than disadvantages. Although, I will give some reasons and examples to support my view in the following paragraphs.
To begin with first reason, people have more job security than working alone for the cooperate business. Family businesses have no rules like other companies have. Family business not let people job less when there is no benefit to the business. On the other hand, employees often get laid off due to lack of work in big companies. In addition, Family members do not need to travel to another place for work which take time, affort and cost. They lost majority of their time for just travelling to job site. Moreover, family business grow faster than any other business because all members contribute their best as they believe it is their own.
On the other hand, their are some disadvantage of it. Family members can not enjoy freedom life because all earning of the business goes into join bank accout. The direct access to that money is allowed only to specific elder person. As a result, family members have to ask for their own money to spend for themselve. It becomes annoying and they usually avoid asking for the money. Furthermore, when family business go through loss then they have no any other source of income. This might create panic atmosphare among the family members.
To conclude, it is clear that there are more pros than cons of join family business. If more family businesses growing then it will be beneficial for the society in the term of job security, travel and financial stability.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the prompt, taking a clear position that family businesses have more advantages than disadvantages. The ideas are generally relevant, covering job security, travel time, and financial control. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or rely on broad generalisations, such as the claim that family businesses never lay people off. Furthermore, the final sentence of the introduction introduces a slightly confused transition ('Although, I will give some reasons and examples...'). Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fitting the criteria for Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is arranged coherently with a clear overall progression. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, advantages, disadvantages, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are present, such as 'To begin with', 'On the other hand', and 'To conclude', but they are sometimes used mechanically or slightly inappropriately, such as 'To begin with first reason'. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional mechanical transitions interrupt the natural flow of ideas. This places the response securely at Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, including terms like 'job security', 'financial stability', and 'atmosphere'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'cooperate business' instead of 'corporate business', 'job less' instead of 'jobless' or 'laid off', 'affort' instead of 'effort', and 'join family business' instead of 'joining a family business'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb forms, articles, and prepositions, such as 'Family business not let people job less', 'They lost majority of their time', 'their are some disadvantage', and 'when family business go through loss'. Although the meaning remains understandable and communication is rarely completely impeded, the high frequency of basic grammatical slips keeps the performance at a Band 5.0 level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.