IELTS Problem and Solution Essays: Matching Every Solution to a Named Cause

Problem and solution essays look like the easiest Task 2 type. You name a problem, you name a solution, you finish early. Then the band comes back at 6 and nobody can explain why.

The reason is almost always the same. The causes in paragraph one and the solutions in paragraph two are about different things. The essay reads as two separate lists rather than one argument. Task Response, the criterion that asks whether you answered the question and developed your ideas, treats that as an incomplete answer even when every sentence in it is true.

This post shows the mismatch in a real essay, then rewrites it so that each solution is attached to a named cause.

The three question forms you will see

The instruction is worded in several ways, and they ask for slightly different things.

Read the instruction twice before planning. Writing solutions for a causes and effects question is one of the fastest ways to lose Task Response marks, because half your essay answers a question nobody asked.

Common topics in this family include traffic congestion in large cities, youth unemployment, obesity, plastic waste, rural populations moving to cities, falling birth rates, and stress at work. They repeat because they all have measurable causes and plausible fixes.

The mismatch, in a real answer

Here is the question:

Many cities suffer from serious traffic congestion. What are the causes of this problem and what measures could be taken to solve it?

And here is a typical band 6 body, shortened:

Firstly, the number of private cars has grown very fast because cars have become cheaper and people have more money than before. Also, many people live far from their workplace, so they must travel long distances every morning. In addition, some roads in old cities are narrow and were built a long time ago. There are some solutions to this problem. Governments should build more roads and bridges. Also, people should be encouraged to walk or cycle for their health. Finally, the government can raise the tax on fuel so people will drive less.

Nothing here is wrong. The vocabulary is fine and the grammar is controlled. But look at what happens when you line the paragraphs up.

Two of the three pairs do not connect. The examiner is not marking whether each idea is sensible on its own; the descriptors ask whether the response is developed and relevant throughout. A solution that does not answer the cause you raised is not development, it is a new topic.

The fix: plan in pairs, not in lists

Before you write anything, draw two columns and fill them across, not down. One row is one cause and its matching solution. If you cannot fill the right side of a row, delete the cause. A cause you cannot solve does not belong in a problem and solution essay.

Now every solution is a reply. Notice also that each row contains a mechanism: not just what to do, but why it would work. That mechanism is the development the descriptors are asking for.

The rewrite

The most significant cause is the distance between housing and employment. As city centres became expensive, workers moved to outer suburbs where public transport is thin, so a car became the only practical way to reach the office. The direct answer to this is investment in commuter rail and bus lanes on exactly those outer routes. If a suburban worker can reach the centre in thirty minutes without a car, the distance stops forcing a car journey. A second cause is that driving alone remains the cheapest option at the busiest time of day. Fuel and parking are paid by the individual, while the delay each driver creates is paid by everyone else. Congestion charging corrects this. Cities that charge for entry at peak hours shift some drivers to earlier journeys and some to public transport, because the price now reflects the crowding. A third cause is the fixed working day. When every office requires attendance at the same hour, the road system must be built for a peak that lasts ninety minutes and is empty the rest of the time. Staggered start times and one or two remote days per week spread that demand, which is a far cheaper solution than new construction.

The rewrite is not longer by much. What changed is that each paragraph now travels in one direction: cause, mechanism, matched solution, reason it works.

Common ways this still goes wrong

1. Too many causes. Three causes with matched solutions beat five causes with none. Depth is a named criterion; quantity is not.
2. Government should do everything. Vary the actor. Employers, individuals, schools and city authorities all appear naturally in the rewrite above.
3. Solutions with no mechanism. Raise awareness is not a solution until you say who is made aware of what, and what they do differently afterwards.
4. Answering a causes and effects question with solutions. Check the instruction again before you plan.
5. A conclusion that adds a new solution. The conclusion restates. New material there is unsupported by definition, because nothing before it did the work.

Try this today

Take any problem and solution question and write only the two column table. Do not write the essay. Give yourself six minutes. If every row has a solution that genuinely answers its cause, your Task Response problem is already solved, and the writing becomes a matter of putting the rows into sentences.

When you do write the full answer, you can run it through Bandly to see estimated scores for all four criteria and where the reasoning looks thin. The estimates come from a language model rather than a qualified examiner, so use them to find weak paragraphs, not to predict your test day result.