Task 2
Where most of the words belong on the remedies, not the diagnosis. With a worked example and a practice exercise.
An IELTS problem solution essay asks what is going wrong and what should be done about it. It is one of the most common Task 2 questions, and the most common way to mishandle it is to spend three quarters of the essay describing the problem.
The instruction usually has two parts, and the second one is where the marks are. A solution that names who should act and what would follow is worth far more than three solutions listed in a sentence each.
The task
Six points, starting with a distinction that catches many candidates.
What problems does this cause and what measures could be taken? What are the causes and what solutions can you suggest? What should be done about this? Two tasks, almost always.
A cause is why something happens; a problem is the harm it does. If the question asks for causes and you give problems, you have answered a different question, and this is a frequent error.
One paragraph identifying the problem or cause, one or two on remedies. If the question asks for both equally, split it evenly, but never let the diagnosis take the whole essay.
Who does this? Governments, schools, employers, individuals. Something should be done is not a solution; local authorities could subsidise fares is.
What would follow if it worked, and why. A solution with a stated mechanism is developed; a solution asserted in one line is a list item.
Do not overclaim. This would completely solve the problem invites disagreement, while this would go some way towards reducing it is defensible and reads as more expert.
Worked example
A typical problem and solution question, with a model introduction and one solution paragraph.
Question. In many cities, traffic congestion is becoming steadily worse. What problems does this cause, and what measures could be taken to address it?
Introduction. Traffic in most large cities has grown faster than the roads carrying it, and the consequences now reach well beyond the inconvenience of a slow journey. This essay will consider the economic and environmental damage congestion causes, and will argue that the most effective measures combine investment in public transport with charges that make driving into city centres less attractive.
The problem. The clearest cost is economic. Time spent stationary is time not spent working, and freight delayed on congested roads raises the price of everything it carries. Less obviously, congestion concentrates emissions in exactly the places where population density is highest, so the health cost falls hardest on the people who are least likely to be driving.
A solution. The most effective single measure available to city governments is a congestion charge combined with genuine investment in the alternatives. Charging drivers to enter the centre reduces the number who do so, but only if there is a workable option for those who stop driving, which is why the two must be introduced together. London’s scheme is the usual example, and traffic entering the charging zone fell substantially once it began. This would not eliminate congestion, and no realistic measure would, but it would reduce it enough to matter.
The solution paragraph names who acts, what they do, why it would work, and what it would not achieve. That last clause is what stops it reading as an overclaim.
Method
Six decisions, most of them made before you write a word.
Underline them. Problems and causes are different requests, and answering the wrong one is a Task Response failure rather than a small slip.
Depth is marked; coverage is not. Two solutions explained properly beat five named in a sentence each.
Governments, schools, employers, parents, individuals. An unattached solution has no mechanism, and a solution with no mechanism cannot be developed.
If cities invested in cycle lanes, fewer people would drive. The structure fits a proposal exactly, and it is a genuine range marker.
A stated limit makes the rest of the claim credible, and it is easier to write than another supporting sentence.
Two sentences. The words belong in the solutions, and a long introduction to a problem essay eats the paragraph that is actually being marked.
Practice
Six questions on reading the task and shaping the answer. Choose the best option.
Every option below could be written in correct English. The question is which one answers the task as it was actually set.
That is what Task Response measures, and it is the criterion candidates lose most often without knowing it.
1The question asks for the causes of obesity. Which answer addresses it?
The availability of cheap processed food. The other three are consequences. A cause explains why the situation arose; a problem describes the harm it does, and swapping them answers a different question.
2Which is a properly formed solution?
The third. It names who acts, what they do and why it would work. The other three identify nobody and propose nothing that could actually be carried out.
3How should the words be divided?
Evenly, or towards the solutions. Both halves of the instruction are marked, but the diagnosis is the easier half to write and the one that tends to swallow the essay.
4Which sentence is best in a solutions paragraph?
The third. It claims something real and states a limit. The first and fourth overclaim, and the second stacks hedges until nothing has been asserted.
5Which grammar structure fits a proposed solution best?
Second conditional. It describes what would follow from a change that has not been made, which is exactly what a proposal is. The third conditional deals with the unreal past instead.
6A candidate writes four solutions, one sentence each. What is the likely outcome?
Development is what is missing. Task Response rewards ideas that are extended and supported. A list demonstrates that you can name things, which is not the same as arguing for them.
It is the most expensive mistake in Task 2 and the hardest to catch alone, because a fluent, well organised essay looks right on the page whatever question it happens to be answering.
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Recognising the right approach in a multiple choice is not the same as holding it for forty minutes and 250 words.
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A cause explains why something happened. A problem is the harm it does. Questions ask for one or the other, and answering the wrong one is a Task Response failure.
Two, developed properly. A list of four or five in a sentence each demonstrates coverage rather than the development the criterion rewards.
They help, and a well-known one such as a city congestion charge is enough. Invented statistics are worse than no example at all.
No. State what it would achieve and what it would not. An acknowledged limit makes the claim more credible, not less.
Only if the instruction asks for one. A problem and solution question usually asks what should be done rather than what you personally believe.
Full membership
Grammar and vocabulary can be checked. Whether an essay actually answered the question asked, and held that answer all the way through, is a judgement, and it is the one that most often decides whether a script is a 6 or a 7.
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