Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-31

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 business is run by family members together, like sons, daughters and in-laws. Although, advanteges of having family business unity and strong bonds, I believe that disadvantages is more as it switch the pressure on young generation to involve and handle the bussiness instead of focusing on their own interest.

On the one hand, family business give an opportunity to get all members to work together on same project. This means, they get stronger relations with each other. In result their bussinesses get wide-spread and improved through unintruptive communication and planning. For example, India is a country, where many renowed busniness like Andani is run though generations.

On the other hand, there is always a family pressure on young generation to start participating in business at certain age. That is beacuse of expections that family always have from young ones. Instead of letting them expore and focus on their interest, children are forced to sit for meeting and hand over them some professional work. As a result children run away from the unexpected responsiblility. gen z are the biggest example, they are in intrest in family business and they wanted to start new life their own.

To conclude, family busniess get members unity, however i believe disadvangates are more a young generation are forced to work in family business, dispite of their own preferences.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear answer to the question: you acknowledge stronger family relationships as a benefit, then argue that pressure on younger relatives makes the disadvantages greater. The examples about children being expected to attend meetings and the reference to younger generations support your position. However, the advantages are only briefly explained, and the example of a well-known Indian business is not clearly connected to how family cooperation benefits it. The response also falls 23 words short of the required minimum, limiting the space available to develop and illustrate your reasons. To strengthen the response, explain both sides more fully and add a specific example showing the effects of family pressure or shared work on a business and its members.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. The contrast between “On the one hand” and “On the other hand” helps readers follow the argument, and the conclusion restates your view. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some ability to guide the reader. However, connections within paragraphs are sometimes mechanical or unclear. For example, “This means” and “In result” do not smoothly explain how working together leads to business growth, while “gen z” appears abruptly at the end of the disadvantages paragraph. Use linking phrases only where the relationship is clear, and develop each paragraph in a more consistent sequence: claim, explanation, and relevant example.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “family business,” “pressure,” “young generation,” “responsibility,” and “preferences,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. There are also attempts at more specific expressions such as “uninterrupted communication” and “professional work.” However, the range is limited, and frequent spelling errors—such as “advanteges,” “bussiness,” “expections,” and “responsiblility”—make the writing less clear and reduce the impression of control. Some combinations are also unnatural, including “get members unity” and “run away from the unexpected responsibility.” Build a bank of accurate collocations for family businesses and check spelling carefully; more precise wording will help express your ideas without changing their meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a concession in the introduction (“Although…”) and a cause-and-effect structure (“As a result…”). This shows some willingness to vary sentence forms. However, complex attempts are often faulty, and errors in sentence construction, agreement, articles, and punctuation sometimes make the reader pause. For instance, “Although, advanteges of having family business unity and strong bonds” is an incomplete clause, and “disadvantages is more” has an agreement error. In “family business give an opportunity,” the subject and verb do not agree. Practise writing complete clauses and checking subject–verb agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries. Clearer control of these basics will make your argument easier to follow.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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