Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-22

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)

Family businesses are very common in western as well as asian countries. Bunch of people join their family businesses to avoid extra efforts and stress of choosing a correct carrer pathway which has numerous positives as well as negative effects that are elaborated below.

To commence with advantages, most of the children get rid of hard labour and non-flexible working hours. Following the initial days every kid have a backup plan to join family enterprise and they never stress out while choosing future carrer path, for instance, children with non business family background has to study hard from adoloscent age and go through numerous job interviews and preparing for them which is a very difficult task, However, children with background does not worry much about their carrer paln as they have a choice to join their family heritage at any time.

On other hand, This change also have some demerits as well. Usually, It is said the brain of kids and their thoughts about future shapes a better future and carrer for them. However, In case children have family background of sucessfull firm they never stress about futre and some times children lacks behind in developing locomotive skills and in worse case, some children also suffers from underdeveloped brain and problem solving skills.

In overall, It is crystal clear that having a choice to join ancestral firm have more advantages than demerits, but it is very important for parents to shape their mind and critical thinking skills. In meantime, they should be given choice to join their ancestral business but first of all children should be made capable to run a business, once they are enough capable to hold a strong position in the company they should be allowed to join the business.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of family businesses, presenting a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are generally relevant, but some points, particularly the medical and psychological claims about children's brain development in the third paragraph, are somewhat extreme and under-developed in terms of logical extension and support. The introduction and conclusion are present, fulfilling the general task requirements. However, the development of ideas lacks depth and relies on sweeping generalisations rather than fully articulated examples. This aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is arranged with a discernible overall structure, including an introduction, body paragraphs addressing advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised, though paragraph boundaries and internal links could be managed more effectively. Cohesive devices are attempted, such as 'To commence with advantages' and 'On other hand', but some referencing is unclear (for example, 'This change' in the third paragraph lacks a precise antecedent). Furthermore, punctuation issues occasionally disrupt the logical flow between clauses. Progression is present, but mechanical transitions prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. Overall, this performance corresponds to Band 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'heritage', 'ancestral firm', and 'locomotive skills' (though the latter is used inaccurately here in place of motor skills). There are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'carrer' instead of career, 'adoloscent' instead of adolescent, 'sucessfull' instead of successful, and 'lacks behind' instead of lags behind. Despite these inaccuracies, communication is not severely impeded, and the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main arguments. These features reflect the Band 5 descriptor profile.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though complex structures are frequently marred by grammatical errors and poor punctuation control. Examples of errors include subject-verb agreement issues ('every kid have', 'children with non business family background has', 'children lacks behind', 'some children also suffers') and run-on sentences with comma splices, such as in the final paragraph. While the meaning remains mostly clear to the reader, the frequency of basic grammatical and punctuation errors prevents the text from achieving a Band 6 score, placing it firmly at Band 5.

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