How to Plan & Write

IELTS Problem Solution Essays

IELTS problem solution essays are the most challenging essay type for many people. The way they are worded
can vary hugely which can make it difficult to understand how you should answer the question.

Generally, you’ll be asked to write about both the problem, or cause, and the solution to a specific issue.
Sometimes, however, you will only be required to write about possible solutions.

The 3 essay types:

 Problem and solution

 Cause and solution

 Just the solution

The Sample Question

Here are two typical IELTS problem solution essay questions. They consist of a statement followed by the
question or instruction.

1. One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you suggest?

2. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the number of endangered species has increased significantly
and we have witnessed more mass extinctions in this period than in any other period of time.

State some reasons for this and provide possible solutions.

These are some examples of different ways in which questions can be phrased. The first half of the questions
relate to the problem or cause, the second half to the solution.

What issues does this cause and how can they be addressed?

What are some resulting social problems and how can we deal with them?

What problems arise from this and how can they be tackled?

Why is this? How might it be remedied?

What are the reasons for this, and how can the situation be improved?

Why is this happening, and what measures can be taken to tackle this problem?

And here are a few questions where you only have to write about the solution.
How can this situation be improved?

What solutions can you suggest to deal with this problem?

How can this problem be solved?

What measures could be taken to prevent this?

It’s important that you are able to recognise the common synonyms, words and phrases used in problem
solution questions. Here are the key words and their synonyms used in the questions above.

 Problem – issues, resulting, situation

 Cause – reasons, why

 Solution – deal with, addressed, tackled, remedied, improved, measures taken, solved, prevent

Before we move on to some common mistakes, understand the difference between a problem and a cause.
Read the following examples.

Problem – I've missed the last bus home after visiting my friend for the evening.

Cause – I misread the timetable and thought the bus left at 22.45 when it actually left at 22.35.

The ‘cause’ is the reason for the ‘problem’. We’ll be looking at question analysis in more detail in a minute.

6 Common Mistakes

These six errors are common in IELTS problem solution essays.

 Confusing problem and causes questions.

 Having too many ideas.

 Not developing your ideas.

 Not developing both sides of the argument equally.

 Not linking the problems and solutions.

 Not being specific enough.

Now let’s look at a simple structure you can use to write IELTS problem solution essays. It’s not the only
possible structure but it’s the one I recommend because it’s easy to learn and will enable you to quickly plan
and write a high-level essay.

1) Introduction

 Paraphrase the question

2) Main body paragraph 1 – Problem or Cause

 Topic sentence – state the problem or cause

3) Main body paragraph 2 – Solution

 Topic sentence – state the solution

4) Conclusion

 Summarise the key points

This structure will give us a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

How To Plan IELTS Problem Solution Essays

Here’s the question we’re going to be answering in our model essay followed by the 3 steps of the planning
process.

One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you suggest?

 Analyse the question

 Generate ideas

 Identify vocabulary
# 1 Analyse the question

This is an essential step in the planning process and will ensure that you answer the question fully. It’s quick
and easy to do. You just need to identify 3 different types of words:

1. Topic words

2. Other keywords

3. Instruction words

Topics words are the ones that identify the general subject of the question and will be found in the statement
part of the question.

One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

So, this question is about ‘traffic congestion’.

Many people will do this first step of the process and then write about the topic in general. This is a serious
mistake and leads to low marks for task achievement.

What we need to do now that we know the general topic, is to understand exactly what aspect of traffic
congestion we're being asked to write about.

The other keywords in the question tell you the specific topic you must write about.

One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

By highlighting these words, it’s easy to see that you are being asked to write about the problem of traffic
congestion in large cities. Your essay must only include ideas relevant to these ideas.

The instruction words are the question itself. These tell you the type of IELTS problem solution essay you must
write. This is a ‘causes and solutions’ question.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you suggest?

# 2 Generate ideas

The next task is to generate some ideas to write about.

Here are some ideas:

 Too many cars on the roads – increasing numbers of people own cars, more convenient than buses &
trains

 Inadequate public transport – crowded, old & dirty

 Poor road layout

 Rush hour traffic – most people travel to & from work at the same times each day

Solution:

 Car sharing, park-and-ride scheme, congestion charge

 Improve public transport – more frequent and better quality

 Improve infrastructure – bus lanes, cycle lanes will make it safer for people to cycle

 Flexible working hours

For each cause you think of, immediately write down a possible solution. This you will ensure that the
problems and solutions you think of are linked.

You don’t need to spend long on this as you only need one or two ideas.

Here are my choices:

Cause – Too many cars on the roads. Why? – increasing numbers of people own cars, more convenient than
buses & trains

Solution – Park-and-ride schemes

We’re almost ready to start writing our IELTS problem solution essay but first, we have one more task to do.

# 3 Vocabulary

During the planning stage, quickly jot down some vocabulary that comes to mind as you decide which cause
and solution you are going to write about, especially synonyms of key words. This will save you having to stop
and think of the right language while you’re writing. For example:

 traffic jam

 heavy traffic
  queue

 vehicles

 commute

 rush hour

 private transport

 infrastructure

With that done, we can focus on the first paragraph of the essay – the introduction.

How To Write an Introduction

Good introductions to IELTS problem solution essays have a simple 2 part structure:

 Paraphrase the question

 State 1 key problem/cause and related solution/s (outline sentence)

It should:

 Have 2-3 sentences

 Be 40-60 words long

 Take 5 minutes to write

1) Paraphrase the question

Start your introduction by paraphrasing the question.

Question: One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you suggest?

Paraphrased question:

One of the most serious issues facing the majority of large urban areas is traffic jams.
Note my use of synonyms to replace key words in the question statement. You don’t have to replace every key
word but do so where possible whilst ensuring that your language sounds natural.

2) Outline statement

Now we need to add an outline statement where we outline the two main points that we’ll cover in the rest
of the essay, that is, the cause and the solution I chose earlier. Here they are again.

Cause – Too many cars on the roads. Why? – increasing numbers of people own cars, more convenient than
buses & trains

Solution – Park-and-ride schemes

And, this is one way to develop them into an outline sentence.

Outline statement:

The main reason for this is that there are too many private cars on the roads these days and a viable
solution is to introduce more park-and-ride schemes.

So, let’s bring the two elements of our introduction together.

Introduction

This introduction achieves three important functions:

 It shows the examiner that you understand the question.

 It acts as a guide to the examiner as to what your essay is about.

 It also helps to keep you focused and on track as you write.

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body paragraphs.
Main body paragraph 1 – Too many cars on the roads

Main body paragraph 2 – Park-and-ride schemes

How To Write Main Body Paragraphs

Main body paragraphs in IELTS problem solution essays should contain 3 things:

 Topic sentence – outline the main idea

 Explanation – explain it and give more detail

 Example – give an example

Main Body Paragraph 1

The topic sentence summarises the main idea of the paragraph. That’s all it needs to do so it doesn’t have to
be complicated.

It plays an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from one to another. It does this by acting
as a signpost for what is to come next, that is, what the paragraph will be about.

If you maintain a clear development of ideas throughout your essay, you will get high marks for task
achievement and cohesion and coherence.

We’ll now take the idea for our first main body paragraph and create our topic sentence.

Obviously, we’re going to write about the cause of the problem first.

Main body paragraph 1 – Too many cars on the roads

Topic sentence:

The number of people owning cars increases year on year, with most families now having more than one
car.

Next, we must write an explanation sentence that develops the idea.

Explanation sentence:
Most people like the convenience of travelling at the time they want to rather than being restricted to
public transport timetables, so they prefer to drive themselves around rather than taking the bus or train.
This is despite the fact that they frequently have to sit in long traffic queues as they near the city centre.

Finally, we add an example to support our main point. If you can’t think of a real example, it’s fine to make
one up, as long as it’s believable. The examiner isn’t going to check your facts. Alternative, you could add
another piece of information to support your idea.

Example sentence:

Whenever I have to attend a meeting in the city, I always drive because it means that I can leave home
when I want to rather than getting stressed about getting to the station in time to catch the train.

That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.

We now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.

Main Body Paragraph 2

Main idea 2 – Park-and-ride schemes

First, we write the topic sentence to summarise the main idea.

Topic sentence:

A solution that is proving successful in many areas is park-and-ride schemes.

Explanation sentence:

This is where you park your car for free in a large car park on the outskirts of the city and take a bus for the
final part of your journey. The fee you have to pay for the bus trip is usually very small and this public
transport system is generally very regular, running every ten minutes or so.

Finally, an example to support this point.

Example sentence:

A survey carried out in the city of Exeter showed that the rush hour congestion decreased by 10% when the
council set up a park-and-ride scheme to the north of the city. There was an additional drop of another 10%
in traffic volume when a second scheme began operating to the south.

That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.

Now we need a conclusion and our IELTS problem solution essay is done.

How To Write a Conclusion

The conclusion is a summary of the main points in your essay and can generally be done in a single sentence. It
should never introduce new ideas.
If you're below the minimum 250 words after you’ve written your conclusion, you can add a prediction or
recommendation statement.

Our essay is already over the minimum word limit so we don’t need this extra sentence but you can learn
more about how to write a prediction or recommendation statement for IELTS problem solution essays on the
Task 2 Conclusions page.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of the most important.

A good conclusion will:

 Neatly end the essay

 Link all your ideas together

 Sum up your argument or opinion

 Answer the question

If you achieve this, you’ll improve your score for both task achievement and cohesion and coherence which
together make up 50% of the overall marks. Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task
achievement.

You can start almost any final paragraph of an IELTS problem solution essay with the words:

 In conclusion

or

 To conclude

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one sentence.

Here’s a top tip. Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this is also a summary of the essay. It
outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a good conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction.

Introduction:
Here is the same information formed into a conclusion. I’ve also added a personal statement at the end to link
back to one of my example sentences. You don’t have to do this but in this case, I think that it rounds the
essay off better.

That’s it. We’ve completed our essay. Here it is with the 4 paragraphs put together.

Question:

One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you suggest?

Finished IELTS problem solution essay.