Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-12

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)

It has always been a matter of debate whether family memebers should work in their family business or not. While, according to the recent studies that in most countries peopel prefer to contribute to their business intsead of working for other companies. I believe this statement has more benefits than drawbacks.

To commence with, the first and main reason of taking a part of their family business is to reduce the labour cost. To elaborate, everybody needs a quick service in almost every business and in order to fulfil the requirement of the market, employers may have to hire more labour, which is the main expense of each and every business in these days because the minimum wages is becoming higher and higher. Hence, to cut down that cost, employers prefer to involve their family members and which directly plays a vital role to increase the revenue. Moreover, people can not blindly trust on their workers because if any mistake is happen from any employee of the business, as result, there is very few chance that customer will come back again and employer may have to lose their customer. Therefore, business man may give priority to their family members, so that they can provide top notch service to their customers and without any mistake.

However, professionalism could be zero if we include our family member in the business as they know our pros and cons, which can impact on our business in a negative way. For example, we can not point out any mistake which happend from our family member or it could be a reason of miscommunication among family members. Consequently, the business may be go in negative numbers instead of growing up.

To sum up, making a healthy balance in business or relationship could be great option to grow any business with family members as the chances of misunderstanding may be almost zero .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You answer the question directly by stating that family businesses have more benefits than drawbacks, and you discuss both sides. The points about reducing labour costs and providing reliable service are relevant, while the concern about professionalism and family disagreements gives the opposing view. However, the supporting ideas are unevenly developed: the claim that family members can provide service “without any mistake” is too absolute and would benefit from a realistic example or explanation. The disadvantage is also introduced but not fully explored, and the conclusion’s suggestion of a “healthy balance” is not clearly connected to your overall judgement. Develop each main point with a specific example and explain how it supports your position.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph supporting family businesses, a contrasting paragraph, and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “However,” and “To sum up” help signal the stages of the argument. At times, though, cohesion feels mechanical, and some connections between ideas are unclear. For example, the move from labour costs to customer trust is abrupt, while “and which directly plays a vital role” makes the relationship between involving relatives and increasing revenue difficult to follow. The final sentence also introduces balance without clearly summarising the argument. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each supporting explanation explicitly to the paragraph’s main point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “labour cost,” “revenue,” “professionalism,” and “miscommunication.” These choices show an attempt to express business-related ideas, but several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or too informal for a formal essay. Phrases such as “business man,” “go in negative numbers,” and “top notch service” are not natural in this context; “business owner,” “make a loss,” and “high-quality service” would be more appropriate. There are also spelling errors, including “memebers,” “peopel,” and “intsead.” Aim for precise, natural collocations and proofread spelling, while retaining the useful topic-specific vocabulary you already attempt.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “because,” “which,” and “if.” This allows you to explain causes and consequences, and the overall meaning is generally understandable. However, some sentence structures are faulty, particularly when several clauses are joined together. For instance, “While, according to the recent studies that…” is an incomplete construction, and “the business may be go” uses an incorrect verb form. There are also errors in agreement and articles, as in “the minimum wages is” and “a great option.” Work on forming complete clauses, matching subjects and verbs, and checking verb patterns. Shorter, accurately controlled sentences would make your more complex ideas clearer.

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