Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-02

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)

Having an own business is proud situation in today's generation. Many countries faces huge level of unemployment whereas others have their own family business and family members join them. In my opinion, advantages of privately owned business outweighs disadvantages. This essay intends to give merits supporting the argument.

To commence with, one of the main advantage is to maintain business legacy. As people ages everyone is getting old now or then but having someone to look after your business standards keep good flow of money. For example, well-known business tycoon Mr. Mukesh Ambani runs his own Jio company as well as charitable trust handle by other family members. Moreover, with advancement in technologies newly graduated children have tendecy to represent business at world level, which foster profits and reputation of that company.

Furthermore, in 21st century competition is increasing at an alarming rate amongs the government run business and family owned business. To add to this, less taxes have to pay when the workers are their own family members and money management can be easier. Apart from that, in case of family medical emergency individual have not to follow legal leave procedures. Lastly, childrens nowadays choose career on their and do not want to stick in loophole of mom and pop business.

On the other hand, downfall of companies creates a wall between a relationships which is detrimental in near future. As well as head of department have many things to look after such as; shipping of the materials, to crack the deal with dealers and marketing management.

To conclude, merits of working in own company build by ancestors outweighs demerits of working for others. Ancestors plans that their grandchildrens and parents can live good life in today's fast-paced world.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and presents a clear position throughout, stating that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Relevant ideas are presented, such as maintaining business legacy, technological advancements brought by younger generations, and tax flexibility. However, some ideas remain under-developed or lack full explanation. For instance, the point regarding medical emergencies and legal leave procedures is introduced but not fully elaborated to show how it directly impacts the broader business dynamic. Similarly, the counter-arguments regarding relationship strains and managerial burdens are briefly touched upon without deep exploration. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to extend all main arguments with more thorough supporting explanations and specific, well-developed examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, and paragraphs are generally used to separate distinct topics. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing is not always clear, which holds the response back. Devices such as 'To commence with', 'Moreover', and 'Furthermore' are used to signal transitions, but some cohesive links feel slightly formulaic or awkward, as seen in the abrupt shift regarding legal leave procedures or the transition into the counter-argument paragraph starting with 'On the other hand'. To improve coherence and progress toward a higher band, the writer should ensure that ideas within and between paragraphs flow more naturally and that logical relationships are signaled with greater subtlety and precision.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate main ideas about business, employment, and family roles. There are successful attempts to use less common items such as 'business tycoon', 'alarming rate', and 'detrimental'. However, noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word form persist throughout the text. Examples include 'Having an own business is proud situation', 'Many countries faces', 'children have tendecy', and 'childrens nowadays'. Spelling and morphological slips do not heavily impede communication, but they prevent the vocabulary from reaching a more precise and flexible standard. To achieve a higher score, the writer must expand their control over collocations and ensure greater accuracy in word forms and singular/plural nouns.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like conditional and relative clauses. However, the grammar is affected by frequent errors that indicate a limited control over complex patterns. There are noticeable errors in article usage ('an own business', 'at world level'), subject-verb agreement ('Many countries faces', 'charitable trust handle'), prepositions ('manage by other family members'), and sentence construction ('individual have not to follow'). While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to detract from overall accuracy. To improve, the writer should focus on mastering basic agreement rules, article placement, and ensuring that complex sentence structures are constructed accurately and consistently.

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