Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-09

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 business is becoming more and more common in many countries. Family business have both advantages and inconvience but i believe that it has more disadvantages rather than advantages.

Firstly, in family business all important postions are held by their family member which can impact on the business. To elborate more, employer always want to work under the those people who have greater experience and have a lot of experience of work. But, when the company pass their important postion to their family member who do not have the enough knowelgde of business then it will be difficult to other staff to except the decision. For example, if a company face any crisise and person who charge the company do not make a better decision then the employer may got dimotivate.

Furthermore, Staff may not work hard and may not work with their whole heart because they know, the postion of manger or other will go to the family member of the business. As a result, company may face the less productivity and may loss in the company. For example, employer only feel the competence when they know they will get success by working hard, but if the postion will held by the family member without any hard work then the employees does not feel like to spend their energy on compition.

However, there are some advantage of family business like job security. In thses days, people have a lot of compition in order to get the job as it is really hard to get the job. But, if people have a family business, then they feel more job security, because if they do not get the job in anywhere else then they have still option of work.

To conculde, eventhough family business have the advantages but it also inconvience as it dimotivate the other staff to work effectively and company may face the losses.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: you believe family businesses have more disadvantages than advantages, and the conclusion returns to this view. You address both sides by explaining possible effects on staff and the business, then acknowledging job security as a benefit. The points about inexperienced relatives receiving senior roles and other employees losing motivation are relevant, with examples that help illustrate them. However, the advantages side is much less developed: job security is mentioned briefly, without explaining who benefits or how this compares with the disadvantages. Some claims, such as staff not working hard because promotion may go to relatives, would also benefit from clearer explanation and a more specific example. Develop both sides more evenly to strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two paragraphs presenting disadvantages, a paragraph on an advantage, and a conclusion. Sequencing expressions such as “Firstly,” “Furthermore,” “However,” and “To conclude” make the direction of the argument easy to follow. The main ideas are generally grouped appropriately, and the conclusion reflects the position stated at the beginning. At times, however, connections between sentences are mechanical or unclear. For example, “To elaborate more” does not lead smoothly into the explanation, and the relationship between job security and the question of whether advantages outweigh disadvantages is not fully established. Some references, including “the employer” and “they,” are also unclear. Use more precise links and make each paragraph’s central point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “job security,” “productivity,” “crisis,” and “decision,” and the reader can generally understand your main points. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, spelling, and word-form errors make the writing less precise. Examples include “inconvience,” “postions,” “know elgde,” “dimotivate,” and “compition.” Some combinations are also unnatural, such as “face the less productivity” and “feel the competence.” Aim to learn accurate forms and collocations as complete phrases, and avoid repeating general terms such as “company,” “family member,” and “work.” More precise vocabulary would help express the business consequences and employee reactions clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “if a company face any crisis…” and clauses beginning with “because” and “when.” This gives the response some variety, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, there are some recurring errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence construction. For instance, “Family business have” should use a singular or plural subject consistently, while “the company pass” and “the employees does not feel” have agreement problems. In “the position of manager…will go,” the article and phrasing need attention, and “if they do not get the job in anywhere else” has an incorrect preposition pattern. Review subject–verb agreement and build complex sentences carefully, checking each clause for a clear subject and correct verb.

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