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)

In multiple nations, people belongs to one family prefer to work under one roof in their family business. I completely agree to the statement and believe that this development has more merits than it's demerits. My view will be justified in the following paragraphs.

There are several benefits of this trend the foremost one I shall put forward is that it reduce expenses. By this I mean that individuals do not need to hire other staff, that leads to minimise expenses on their training. Moreover, lessen fear of insecurity, because all the people belongs to their close connections.

Additionally, It provides comfortable work environment and reduce anxiety among individuals. For instance, people work at family business has no senior - junior allotment so, there is no dispute between workers. Furthermore, improve business revenue as all the people work hard to make their family business profitable.

On Other hand many may believe that this trend has more demerits. They argue that it increases mismanagement as many people would not able to punish their family member on their mistake at work place. Consequently all member take everything for granted and company may losses their position in competitive markets

All in all, it can be said that mismanagement may happened while working together. However, my arguments prove that family business work smoothly when all members work on one business. It also reduces fraudulent and theft activities. It also minimise anxiety and improves business revenue if all people work effectively, Thus it's advantage outweigh it's disadvantage.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by taking a clear position that family businesses have more advantages than disadvantages. Ideas are presented regarding cost reduction, work environment, and potential mismanagement, such as "individuals do not need to hire other staff" and "increases mismanagement as many people would not able to punish their family member". However, some of these ideas are underdeveloped and lack fully realized supporting examples. While the position is clear throughout, the extension of ideas is somewhat limited, placing the response firmly within Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct points. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty and mechanical. For instance, transitional phrases like "On Other hand" lack proper prepositions and articles, and referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in sentences like "this development has more merits than it's demerits." Cohesive devices are present but lack flexibility and smooth integration, which aligns with Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as "mismanagement," "competitive markets," and "fraudulent." However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as "people belongs to one family" instead of "people belonging to a single family" and "company may losses their position" instead of "lose their position." Furthermore, grammatical errors affect lexical items, such as the use of "it's" for possession ("it's demerits"). These errors do not seriously impede communication, supporting a Band 5.5 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and relative clauses ("By this I mean that individuals do not need to hire other staff..."). However, there is a high frequency of grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ("it reduce expenses", "all member take everything"), missing articles, and punctuation errors. Complex structures often contain faults. While communication remains generally clear, the high density of grammatical inaccuracies prevents the writing from reaching a Band 6.

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

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