Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-24

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 many nations, family menbers work together to run the family business. Although there are few disadvantages, I believe working in the family business have more advantages.

Family business gives you independence and freedom. In this setting you can work independently and make decision to expand your business.you can earn more profit if you put in the effort. If, you are working with your family you can put in more effort like working extra hours, adding different offer,new products and do marketing for the product with low sales. For Instance, when you are working for someone, you have a fixed number of hours and limited decision making as compare to working for your own home business.

However, there are few disadvantages. First, sometime you cannot say boldly your decision to quit because it can ruin the relationship. There are time where you feel exhaused and wanted to quit but you cannot because that may hurt the feeling of other person. For example, if you are working in some office, and you get opportunity you can quit and take switch jobs. Second, it comes with great responsibilty. when you have your family business you have more freedom but it comes with responsibility. you have to think wisely before considering making any conclusion.

To conclude, I believe working in family business has more benefits than drawbacks. you have decision making power along with the opportunity to earn more by putting in extra woek. However, it come with certain drawbacks like you freely convey that you want to quit or deny when you feel like.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the question and state a consistent view: family businesses offer more advantages. The points about independence, decision-making and the possibility of increasing profits are relevant, as are the difficulties of leaving and the responsibility involved. Examples, such as comparing a family business with office work, help illustrate your reasoning. However, some ideas are less fully developed than others: the responsibility point is repeated rather than explained with a specific consequence, and the advantages could be linked more directly to working with relatives. To strengthen the response, explain how trust, shared commitment or family support creates these benefits, and develop each drawback with a concrete example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion that restates your position. Signposting such as “However,” “First,” “Second,” and “To conclude” makes the main stages easy to follow. Some connections are less smooth or precise, though. For example, the comparison beginning “For Instance, when you are working for someone” does not fully explain how the example supports the family-business point, and the final sentence’s “However” introduces a drawback without a clear link to the preceding conclusion. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, as in “that may hurt the feeling of other person.” Use transitions to show the exact relationship between ideas and make pronoun references explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “independence,” “decision making,” “profit,” “responsibility,” and “drawbacks.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “limited decision making” and “extra hours.” However, the range is limited and some word choices or collocations are inaccurate or repetitive, which makes parts of the response less natural. Examples include “family menbers,” “adding different offer,” “take switch jobs,” and “convey that you want to quit.” Spelling errors such as “exhaused,” “responsibilty,” and “woek” are noticeable. Build a wider set of accurate phrases for business operations and workplace relationships, and proofread spelling and word forms carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use both simple sentences and some attempts at more complex structures, including “Although there are few disadvantages” and “If you are working with your family…”. The overall meaning is generally understandable, but errors in sentence structure, verb forms, agreement, articles and punctuation recur. For instance, “working in the family business have” needs subject–verb agreement, while “you have a fixed number of hours and limited decision making as compare to” contains an incorrect comparative form. Sentence boundaries are also faulty in “business.you can earn” and “responsibility. you have”. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and verb, consistent tense, and correct punctuation. More accurate control of these patterns would make your ideas easier to read.

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