IELTS Problem and Solution Essay: Samples at Band 6, 7 and 8

The quickest way to improve a problem and solution essay is to stop reading advice about it and start reading real samples that scored a known band. On this page you get exactly that: the same Task 2 prompt answered at Band 6, 7 and 8, every version a genuine essay from our IELTS essay bank and graded on all four criteria, plus an original model we wrote ourselves. Read one criterion straight down all three bands and the difference stops being abstract.

What a problem and solution essay actually asks

Before any sample, be clear about the task. A problem-solution prompt has two jobs built into it, and you lose marks the moment you do only one. The wording varies, but the shape does not:

Prompt wording you might see	Part 1 asks for	Part 2 asks for
"What problems does this cause, and what measures could reduce it?"	The problems / effects	Measures or solutions
"What are the causes of this problem, and how can it be solved?"	The causes	Solutions
"Why is this happening, and what can be done about it?"	The reasons	Actions / responses

The single most common failure is imbalance: three detailed problems and one rushed, one-sentence solution, or the reverse. Both halves must be developed to roughly the same depth, and — this is what separates the bands — each solution should answer a problem you actually raised, not float free. For the full method, see our guide to the problem and solution essay.

A quick checklist before you write

• Preview both halves in the introduction. Name that you will cover problems and then solutions, so the examiner sees the structure immediately.
• Build each problem into a chain. Don't just name it — show the cause and the effect ("slow traffic burns fuel inefficiently, so the most congested streets have the worst air quality").
• Tie every solution to a problem. A measure that doesn't answer anything you raised is wasted; the examiner is checking relevance.
• Support one claim with a real example. A named city or policy (London's congestion charge, Singapore's road pricing) lifts Task Response.
• Balance the two body paragraphs. Roughly equal length and depth for problems and solutions.

The same prompt at Band 6, 7 and 8

Here is the problem-solution prompt all three graded samples answer. Try it yourself on the traffic-congestion practice page before you read the models — writing first, reading second, is the order that actually raises your band.

As the population of many cities continues to grow, roads have become increasingly crowded and journeys that once took minutes can now take hours. What problems does severe traffic congestion cause, and what measures could be taken to reduce it?

Band 6 — both parts answered, neither developed

The Band 6 sample does the basics right: it names two real problems (wasted time, pollution) and three real measures (public transport, a driving fee, working from home), and it uses a personal example about a long commute. What holds it at 6 is development and accuracy. The driving fee is justified in a single sentence and "work from home" is simply listed with no explanation of how it would take cars off the road, so the solutions half is thinner than the problems half. The vocabulary sits at Band 5 — "traffic jam" repeats four times, with slips like "there cars", "polution" and "think two times" — and subject–verb agreement fails repeatedly ("traffic jam cause", "my father need"). Real ideas, under-developed and under-controlled: a textbook Band 6.

Band 7 — developed chains, a few control slips

The Band 7 version extends every point. The problems become a chain — a longer commute means lost working hours, which becomes "a serious drag on the economy" — and the solutions are argued rather than listed, with the London congestion charge introduced in 2003 given as real support. The position is clear from introduction to conclusion. What keeps it off Band 8 is accuracy, not ideas: two subject–verb agreement errors hide in relative clauses ("people who lives near main roads", "measures that discourages"), and the strong vocabulary — "loss of productivity", "exhaust fumes", "staggered working hours", "take a toll on" — is concentrated in a few phrases rather than sustained. Fix the agreement slips and spread the precision, and this essay moves to 8.

Band 8 — every solution answers a problem

The Band 8 sample reads as a single argument. It organises the solutions around an explicit supply and demand frame, rejects road-building using the concept of induced demand, and supports road pricing with Singapore's decades-old scheme — then adds the politically astute point that ring-fencing the revenue for public transport makes the policy easier to accept. The vocabulary is wide and natural ("gridlock", "disproportionately exposed", "self-defeating"), and almost every sentence is error-free, the one slip being "it's traffic flows" for its. That combination of fully answered solutions and clean, flexible English is what Band 8 means. We break the method down further in Band 6 vs 7 vs 8 on one prompt.

What changes between the bands, criterion by criterion

Criterion	Band 6	Band 7	Band 8
Task Response	Both parts named; solutions thin	Both developed; example given	Each solution answers a problem
Coherence	"Firstly / Secondly" by paragraph	Varied linking, some overuse of "also"	Supply/demand frame; linking grows from ideas
Lexical Resource	"traffic jam" x4; spelling slips	Strong phrases, but clustered	Precise and natural throughout
Grammar	Agreement errors in most sentences	Mostly accurate; a few relative-clause slips	Near-flawless, wide range

An original model answer (our own writing, estimated Band 8)

To show the target on a different topic, here is an original answer we wrote for a problem-solution prompt on digital addiction. The band is our own honest estimate against examiner-style criteria, not an official mark — we do not claim examiner marking.

Prompt: Many young people now spend a large part of their day on smartphones and social media. What problems does this cause, and what measures could be taken to address them?

It is increasingly common to see teenagers reaching for a phone the moment they wake and scrolling until they fall asleep. This heavy use creates real harm, but I believe the problem can be eased through a combination of education and better-designed technology rather than outright bans.

The most serious problem is the effect on attention and sleep. Applications are engineered to be difficult to put down, so a "quick check" routinely stretches into hours, displacing homework, exercise and conversation. Because much of this use happens late at night, the screen's light and the steady stream of notifications disrupt sleep, and a tired teenager learns less and feels worse the following day. A second, less visible cost is to wellbeing: the constant comparison with carefully edited online lives can leave young people feeling inadequate, and the fear of missing out keeps them anxiously returning to the very platforms that unsettle them.

Addressing this means changing both behaviour and the technology itself. Schools and parents should teach digital literacy explicitly — not vague warnings, but practical habits such as keeping phones out of the bedroom and setting app time limits — so that young people learn to manage the devices rather than be managed by them. At the same time, the responsibility cannot rest on willpower alone, because the apps are designed to override it. For that reason, platforms should be required to offer genuine well-being tools by default, such as reminders to take a break and the removal of features that reward endless scrolling. South Korea's experience with school programmes that teach balanced technology use suggests that informed young people do moderate their own habits when given the means.

In conclusion, excessive smartphone use harms young people's concentration, sleep and self-esteem, yet these problems are not beyond our control. The most promising response pairs honest digital education with technology that is built to support healthy use, giving young people both the skill and the environment to take charge of their screen time.

Notice the Band 8 moves from the checklist: both halves are previewed in the introduction, each problem is built into a cause-and-effect chain, every solution answers a problem that was raised, and a real example supports one claim. You can write your own response to this topic on the digital addiction practice page.

More problem-solution prompts to practise

The only way these samples help is if you write your own answers. Each prompt below is a real problem-solution question from our bank, with a practice page where you can write a timed response:

• Single-use plastics — a causes-and-measures prompt; compare your answer with our graded Band 7 plastic-pollution sample.
• Overcrowding at tourist destinations — good practice for linking each problem to a targeted measure.
• Youth unemployment — a causes-and-solutions prompt that rewards a real-world example.
• Reducing household waste — tests whether your solutions actually answer the causes you raised.
• The decline of bee populations — a less predictable topic that still fits the same frame.

The three mistakes that cap these essays

1. Imbalance. Three developed problems and a single rushed solution answer only half the question. Give both body paragraphs equal depth.
2. Solutions that answer nothing. Listing a measure the examiner can't connect to any problem you raised wastes words. Point each solution straight back at a problem.
3. Naming without explaining. The jump from Band 6 to Band 7 is turning "the government should improve public transport" into a chain that shows exactly how the measure changes behaviour.

If grammar rather than argument is holding you back, the drills in going from Band 6 to Band 7 in writing target the exact slips — subject–verb agreement, articles, collocation — that kept our Band 6 and Band 7 traffic samples off the next level.

How to turn these samples into a higher band

1. Write first, read second. Produce a full timed answer on a practice page before opening any sample, so you compare your real writing, not a memory of the model.
2. Score one criterion at a time. Mark your essay against Task Response, then Coherence, then Lexical Resource, then Grammar, and find your single weakest.
3. Fix only that criterion before your next attempt — improving everything at once improves nothing.
4. Get an objective check. Paste your essay into our free IELTS writing checker for a free sample score and per-criterion feedback that flags the under-developed solutions and agreement slips a self-review usually misses. (See pricing for current free limits.)

Every sample here is free to read in the IELTS essay bank. Work through two or three prompts, write your own answer to each, and check it — that loop, not passive reading, is what moves a problem and solution essay to the next band.