IELTS Problem Solution Essay Sample: A Band 7 Answer With Every Mark Explained

Most problem and solution samples on the internet are published with no band attached, or with a band and no reasoning. Neither helps, because the thing you need is not the finished essay; it is the link between a sentence you wrote and the criterion it moved.

This page gives a complete answer to a real problem and solution question, prints the four criterion estimates it received from Bandly's scoring engine, and then rewrites the two sentences that pulled it down. Every estimate here is a model estimate, not a mark from a qualified examiner.

What a problem and solution question looks like

A problem and solution task names a situation and then asks two things of you. The wording varies, so learn the shape rather than the phrasing.

• "What are the causes of this problem, and what measures could be taken to address it?"
• "Why is this happening? What can be done about it?"
• "What problems does this cause, and how could they be solved?"

Two parts means two obligations. Task Response is marked on whether you addressed all parts of the task, so an answer with four excellent causes and one vague solution is not a strong answer with a weak ending. It is an answer that has only half finished the task.

Note the difference between causes and problems. "Why is traffic increasing, and what can be done?" asks for causes. "What problems does heavy traffic cause, and how can they be solved?" asks for effects. Candidates lose marks by writing causes when the question asked for effects, and the mistake is invisible to them because both paragraphs read well.

The paragraph plan

Four paragraphs, with the two middle ones doing the two jobs the question set.

Nothing in the public band descriptors prescribes four paragraphs or any other number. What they do require is logical paragraphing, so the plan above is a safe default rather than a rule. Our post on how many paragraphs a Task 2 essay needs works through the descriptor wording on this.

The one structural choice that is not optional is matching. Every measure in Body 2 should answer a cause from Body 1. An essay that lists three unrelated solutions reads as a second list rather than a response, and that is where the Task Response bullet about extending and supporting ideas starts to slip.

The sample answer

Question. Obesity rates among adults are rising in many countries. What are the causes of this problem, and what measures could be taken to address it?

In many countries the number of adults who are obese is rising every year. There are several reasons for this situation and I believe governments and individuals can both take action to solve it. The main cause is the change in our diet. Fast food is very cheap and it is everywhere in the cities, so many people eat it several times in a week. This food contain a lot of sugar and fat, and one meal can have more calories than a person need for the whole day. Another cause is the lack of exercise. In the past people walked to the work or used the bicycle, but now most people drive the car and then they sit in the office for eight hours. In the evening they are tired so they watch television instead of doing sport. Also many people work long hours and they have no time to cook a healthy meal at home. There are some solutions for this problem. Firstly, the government could put a higher tax on the drinks and the food with a lot of sugar, because when the price is higher people buy less. This method already worked in Mexico. Secondly, schools should teach children about the nutrition and give them healthy lunches, because the habits from the childhood usually continue in the adult life. Thirdly, cities can build more parks and cycle lanes so people can do exercise easily and free. In conclusion, obesity is increasing mainly because of the unhealthy food and the lack of physical activity. In my opinion a combination of taxes, education and better facilities would reduce this problem, but people must also take the responsibility for their own choices.

This answer is published in full, with every marked sentence visible, on its sample page in the library.

The four estimates, separately

Read the spread, not the overall. The content of this essay is strong: two developed causes, three measures, a real example in Mexico, a clear position in both the introduction and the conclusion. The language is where it loses ground, and it loses it on small, repeated, fixable things rather than on anything ambitious.

One honest caveat about the top row. Task Response returns 8 on almost every ordinary answer our engine sees, so treat that number as the least informative of the four. The three lower rows are the ones carrying information here. Bandly's scoring has never been compared against a qualified examiner, and that pattern is the clearest reason to read the criterion notes rather than the single number.

The two sentences that cost it, rewritten

This is the part the other sample pages do not do. Below are two sentences the engine flagged, with the rewrite and the public descriptor wording each edit is aimed at.

Sentence 1. "This food contain a lot of sugar and fat, and one meal can have more calories than a person need for the whole day."

Two subject and verb agreement errors in one sentence: contain should be contains, and need should be needs. Grammatical Range and Accuracy at band 7 wants frequent error-free sentences; at band 8 it wants the majority of sentences error-free, with only occasional slips. A sentence with two agreement errors is not a slip, and this is a complex sentence, which is exactly where the descriptors expect control to be demonstrated.

Rewritten. This food is high in sugar and fat, and a single meal can contain more calories than an adult needs for a whole day.

Three changes, three targets. Fixing the two agreements addresses Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Replacing contain a lot of with is high in addresses the Lexical Resource bullet about using less common vocabulary with awareness of style and collocation. Changing a person to an adult keeps the essay on the population the question named, which is Task Response.

Sentence 2. "There are some solutions for this problem."

Nothing here is wrong. It is simply empty: it announces a paragraph instead of starting it, and it spends one of your 250 words saying nothing the reader did not already know. Coherence and Cohesion at band 7 asks for a clear central topic within each paragraph.

Rewritten. Both causes can be attacked directly, the first through price and the second through the design of cities.

That version names the paragraph's topic, and it points back at the two causes in the previous paragraph, which is the matching described above. The post on what a Task 2 body paragraph has to do takes this further.

Two more small ones, both Lexical Resource, both word form rather than range: "walked to the work" should be "walked to work", and "do exercise easily and free" should be "do exercise easily and for free". Our guide to collocation and Lexical Resource explains why these cost more than they look like they should. The criterion is not marked on how rare your words are; it is marked on whether the words you choose are the right ones.

The vague solution problem

The most common weakness in problem and solution answers is a measure with no mechanism. Compare:

The sample above does this well, and it is why Task Response held up. "The government could put a higher tax on the drinks and the food with a lot of sugar, because when the price is higher people buy less. This method already worked in Mexico." That is a measure, a reason, and an example in two sentences. You do not need a true statistic and you should never invent one; a named country or a named group is enough to turn an assertion into a developed idea.

Common mistakes, in the order they cost you

1. Answering one half. Four causes and one solution. Task Response is marked on all parts of the task.
2. Causes when the question asked for effects. Read the verb in the question before you plan.
3. Listing without extending. Three measures in three sentences, none explained. The descriptors ask for extended and supported ideas, not more ideas.
4. Solutions that match nothing. Pair every measure with a cause you already named.
5. Memorised openings. A sentence like "In this modern era, this is a burning issue" counts for nothing and is a known pattern to markers. See memorised phrases in IELTS writing.
6. Running short. Under 250 words carries a penalty. Two developed body paragraphs reach 250 without padding.

Practice questions

Each of these is a genuine two part task. Write one in 40 minutes, then check it.

• Many cities suffer from serious traffic congestion. What causes this, and what measures could reduce it?
• Plastic waste in the oceans is increasing. Why is this happening, and what can be done about it?
• In many countries young people are leaving rural areas for cities. What problems does this cause, and how could they be addressed?
• Rates of reoffending among released prisoners remain high. What are the causes, and what measures could reduce them?

More complete worked answers across all the Task 2 question types sit in the Task 2 samples library, and the problem and solution hub collects the ones of this shape.

Do this today

Take any problem and solution answer you have already written and run three checks, in this order.

1. Underline every measure in your second body paragraph. Draw a line from each one to the cause it answers. Any measure with no line is a candidate for deletion.
2. Read your first sentence of each body paragraph aloud. If it would still be true in an essay on a different topic, rewrite it so it names this paragraph's topic.
3. Find every sentence with more than one clause and check subject and verb agreement in each clause. That is where the agreement errors in the sample above sat, and it is the cheapest band movement available to most candidates.

Then paste the original and the rewritten version into Bandly and compare the four criterion estimates side by side. The useful output is not the number; it is which of the four moved, and which sentences it marked.