IELTS Essay Bank · Task 2 Academic · Problem & solution
Traffic Congestion in Growing Cities: Band 8 Sample Essay
346 words · Topic: Cities & transport, Government ·
The question
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?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
Band 8 sample essay
Highlighted = useful vocabularyWhen a city's population grows faster than its road network, congestion is almost inevitable, and the resulting gridlock imposes costs that extend well beyond wasted time. In my view, the problem cannot be solved by building more roads; it requires a combination of better alternatives to driving and a price on road space.
The most immediate cost is economic. Hours spent stuck in traffic are hours not spent working, resting or with family, and when this is multiplied across millions of commuters, the cumulative loss of productivity is considerable. Businesses also pay more to move goods, and these costs are eventually passed on to consumers. The second consequence is both environmental and medical: stop-start driving burns fuel inefficiently, so the most congested streets tend to have the poorest air quality, and those who live or work beside them are disproportionately exposed to pollutants linked to respiratory illness. Finally, congestion erodes quality of life in less measurable ways, lengthening the working day and making cities less attractive places to live.
Tackling it effectively means addressing both supply and demand. On the supply side, governments should invest in high-capacity public transport — metro lines, dedicated bus lanes and safe cycle routes — so that leaving the car at home becomes a practical choice rather than a sacrifice. Simply widening roads, by contrast, tends to be self-defeating, since extra capacity encourages extra driving, a phenomenon known as induced demand. On the demand side, road pricing is arguably the most effective tool available. Singapore has charged drivers for entering its busiest areas for decades, and it's traffic flows more smoothly than that of many cities of comparable density. Charges of this kind make drivers weigh the true cost of each journey, and if the revenue is ring-fenced for public transport improvements, the policy becomes far easier to accept politically.
In short, severe congestion drains the economy, damages health and lowers the quality of urban life. The most promising response is not to accommodate ever more cars, but to give people attractive alternatives and to charge fairly for the road space they use.
Word count: 346
Write your own answer → get an AI band score
The same question is ready on its practice page, with a Band 8–9 model answer to compare.
Why this is Band 8: criterion by criterion
Task Response
Band 8Both parts of the question are sufficiently addressed and the position is clear from the first paragraph: more roads will not work, but alternatives plus pricing will. Each problem is extended with a causal explanation (stop-start driving → poor air quality → exposure for residents), and the solutions are supported by a relevant real-world example and by the concept of induced demand, which also justifies rejecting road-building. The response is well developed throughout; for Band 9 the writer could weigh the fairness of charging lower-income drivers, the most obvious objection to the main proposal.
Coherence and Cohesion
Band 8Information is sequenced logically, and the second body paragraph is organised around an explicit supply/demand frame that the reader can follow easily. Cohesion is managed well through precise reference ("these costs", "Charges of this kind", "the policy") and through contrast built into the argument ("Simply widening roads, by contrast…"). Paragraphing is sufficient and appropriate. The problems paragraph still relies slightly on ordinal signposting ("The second consequence", "Finally"), which keeps cohesion at a very strong Band 8 rather than the almost invisible linking of Band 9.
Lexical Resource
Band 8A wide range of vocabulary is used fluently and flexibly to convey precise meanings: "gridlock", "disproportionately exposed", "erodes quality of life", "self-defeating" and the technical term "induced demand" are all used accurately and naturally. Collocation control is strong ("imposes costs", "passed on to consumers", "ring-fenced for"). There are no spelling or word-formation errors in the vocabulary itself, which supports a secure Band 8; Band 9 would need this precision sustained with complete naturalness in every sentence.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Band 8The essay uses a wide range of structures with flexibility: a semi-colon linking two independent clauses, a colon introducing an explanation, dashes around an embedded list, participle clauses ("lengthening the working day…") and a conditional ("if the revenue is ring-fenced…"). The great majority of sentences are error-free. The one slip is "it's traffic flows", where the possessive should be its; a single very occasional error of this kind is exactly what the Band 8 descriptor allows.
Useful vocabulary and collocations
- stuck in traffic
- natural, neutral phrase for being delayed on the road; fits both formal and informal writing.
- cumulative loss of productivity
- the total economic cost of small delays added together; precise and academic.
- high-capacity public transport
- systems such as metros that move large numbers of people; stronger than more buses.
- induced demand
- the idea that new road space attracts new traffic; a technical term that strengthens the argument against road-building.
- road pricing
- the general term for charging drivers to use busy roads; congestion charge is one type.
- ring-fenced for
- reserved for one purpose only; common in formal writing about public money.
How this essay could reach Band 9
- 1Anticipate and answer the strongest objection to road pricing — that it burdens lower-income drivers — for example by suggesting exemptions or cheaper public transport funded by the charge.
- 2Replace ordinal signposts such as "The second consequence" and "Finally" with transitions that grow out of the previous idea, so the paragraph reads as a single argument.
- 3Remove the its/it's slip; at Band 9 errors are rare enough to be almost unnoticeable.
This is an original sample essay written by IELTS-Bank to illustrate Band 8 against the public IELTS Writing band descriptors. The band scores are our assessment, not an official IELTS result. IELTS-Bank is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, or Cambridge University Press & Assessment. "IELTS" is a registered trademark of its respective owners and is used here for descriptive purposes only.