Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-28
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 runned business are popular in many countries of the world. I definitely agree on the statement that the advantage of a family business outweigh the disadvantages. The family run businesses make huge profit by utilizating free labour in house. However, some children might be forced to work rather than doing their own assessments.
On the one hand , people argue that the family runned bussiness exploit the children to work in the shops. The children are forced to stay in the shop and take care of it even if they have their own assignment to do. For instance, many parents keep their teenage son or daughter in the shop and go to do other duties. It really hampers the study and mental healh of the child. Additionally, they are not able to spent time with their friends and develp a good relationship as they are busy in the store.
On the other hand, small businesses owned by a family generates a high profit in terms of monetary value as well as in term of social skills for the children . They do not have to pay for any labour as the family members are enough to handle the everyday running of the business. It directly contributes to the reduced expenses and increase the profit. Moreover, they are able to utilize the leisure time of youngesters in the family for work and prevent them from become addicted to any sort of illegal deeds as they are helping in the business where they also learn effective communicating skills.
In conclusion, although there are some drawbacks of family run businesses , I firmly believe that the advantages are more significant than the disadvantages as it help to generate more income and keep children engaged in work.
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 student addresses all parts of the task, presenting a clear position throughout that family businesses have more advantages than disadvantages. The essay explores both sides, discussing negative impacts on children, such as hindered studies and mental health, alongside positive aspects like reduced expenses, increased profit, and the development of communication and social skills. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or rely on broad generalizations, such as the claim that working prevents teenagers from becoming addicted to illegal deeds. Overall, the response fulfills the task requirements reasonably well, earning a solid Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different viewpoints, with body paragraphs initiated by standard cohesive markers such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. However, cohesion at the sentence level is occasionally mechanical or faulty, and referencing is sometimes unclear, such as pronoun use in 'prevent them from become addicted'. Despite these minor flaws, there is a clear overall progression, warranting a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases like 'utilizating free labour', 'monetary value', and 'effective communicating skills'. However, there are notable word-choice and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'runned' instead of 'run', 'utilizating' instead of 'utilizing', 'healh' instead of 'health', and 'spent' instead of 'spend'. While these errors do not impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some capability to construct multi-clause sentences. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in the text, including tense and morphology issues such as 'Family runned business are popular' instead of 'Family-run businesses are', 'the advantage of a family business outweigh' instead of 'outweighs', and 'prevent them from become' instead of 'becoming'. Punctuation is also slightly flawed in places, such as spaces before commas. These errors place the grammar at a Band 5.0.
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.