Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-06

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)

Most of the countries believes that working together in family business with the family members have more merits than the demerits. I totally disagree with this fact because according to me there should be space between personal life and business which is very important for healthy lifestyle and also the risk of working in family business is more than working in a private company.

To begin with, for a healthy lifestyle, there should be a gap between the personal life and private, however, when we work in our own family in same business than we cannot differentiate between family time and work time. This lead to stress and doesnot provide a person chance to feel relax . To exemplify, person feel relax and stress free after coming back from their stressful life from work ,however, when they work in family business their life become more busy as even they come back from the work but they are never out of their family business as they live in same person as they are living in their working environment .

Secondly, the risk in family business is more than working in private company or private business. To justify, if the family business faces loss than the whole family have to suffer from that loss and even they cannot ask each other for help because all the family members are working in same company and their own family business is major contribution for the survival of their life.

In conclusion, we can conclude that the number of disadvantages are more than the number of advantages for family to work together in their family business. So, to make life better and stress free , family members should work in different businesses rather than owing same business.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: you disagree that family businesses have more advantages, and the conclusion restates this view. You address the question with two relevant reasons—difficulty separating work from family life and the risk of shared financial loss—and explain each with some supporting detail. The example of family members remaining involved in the business after work helps illustrate the first point. However, the second reason is less fully developed: you explain that the whole family may suffer, but do not give a specific example or explore why this risk is greater than in other businesses. A brief acknowledgement of a possible advantage, such as trust or shared commitment, would also make the comparison more balanced and complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting separate reasons, and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “To begin with,” “Secondly,” and “In conclusion” make the progression easy to follow, and each paragraph has a recognisable central point. This meets the lower level of organisation securely, with some signs of more controlled progression. However, cohesion is not always smooth: the first body paragraph repeats the idea of stress and difficulty separating work from home, while the long example becomes hard to follow. Some links, including “however” and “To justify,” feel mechanical or do not clearly express the relationship between ideas. Use shorter sentences and clearer references to make the explanation flow more naturally.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough vocabulary to communicate your main ideas, including relevant terms such as “personal life,” “stress,” “loss,” and “survival.” However, the range is limited and several phrases are repeated, particularly “family business,” “work,” and “stress.” There are also noticeable word-choice and collocation problems that sometimes make the meaning less clear: “the personal life and private” does not express the intended contrast, and “living in same person” is difficult to interpret. “Owing same business” appears to use the wrong word for owning a business. Aim to learn natural word partnerships and use more precise alternatives, such as “work-life boundaries,” “financial risk,” and “operate a business.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “because,” “when,” and “if,” and the overall argument remains understandable. However, control is inconsistent, especially in longer sentences. For example, “Most of the countries believes” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “This lead to stress” uses the wrong verb form. Articles and plurals are also sometimes inaccurate, as in “in family business” and “a person chance.” The extended sentence beginning “To exemplify, person feel relax…” contains several errors in agreement and sentence construction, making it difficult to follow. Work on accurate basic sentence patterns first, then divide long explanations into shorter sentences. Check agreement, articles, and verb forms during proofreading.

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.