CD IELTS Prep
All band comparisons

Task 2 · Problem and solution · Transport

Traffic congestion in growing cities

A congestion essay whose band 9 answer explains why building more roads has never worked, and why every effective solution is politically painful.

The question

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

Traffic congestion is becoming worse in many rapidly growing cities. What do you think are the causes of this, and what solutions could be introduced?

A 250-word discursive essay — the half of the paper that carries two thirds of the marks. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.

What separates the three answers

The 6.5 proposes more roads and better buses; the 9 explains why the first cannot work, and what has to be true for the second to.

The three answers

Band 6.5

266 words (the task asks for at least 250)

The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.

The answer

Traffic jam is one of the biggest problem in the modern cities4, especially in the developing countries where the population is growing very fast. In this essay I will explain the reasons of this problem and I will give some solutions.

The first reason is the rapid increase of the private cars. Nowadays, the car is not a luxury anymore and almost every family can buy one, so the number of the vehicles on the road is much more than before. Secondly, the public transport in many cities is very poor. The buses are old, they are always late and they are overcrowded, so people prefer to use their own car. Moreover, the road infrastructure is not developed enough. Many cities have narrow roads which were built many years ago and they can not handle the traffic of today.

There are several solutions for this problem. Firstly, the government should build more roads and flyovers to reduce the traffic1. Secondly, the government should improve the public transport, for example by buying new buses and building the metro system. In addition, the people should use the carpooling or the bicycle for the short distance5, and the companies can allow the flexible working hours so all the people are not travelling in the same time2.

In conclusion, the traffic congestion is caused by the increasing of the cars, the poor public transport and the old infrastructure3, and it can be solved by building more roads, improving the public transport and changing the habit of the people. The government and the citizens must cooperate to make our cities better.

What an examiner notices

  1. 1. Task response

    “the government should build more roads and flyovers to reduce the traffic”

    The essay's own first cause was too many cars. Adding road capacity is the classic solution that reproduces the problem, and this is never noticed.

  2. 2. Task response

    “the companies can allow the flexible working hours so all the people are not travelling in the same time”

    A sensible idea, but it is the fourth item in a crowded final sentence and receives no development at all.

  3. 3. Coherence and cohesion

    “In conclusion, the traffic congestion is caused by the increasing of the cars, the poor public transport and the old infrastructure”

    The conclusion mirrors the body exactly. Nothing is weighed, ranked or resolved.

  4. 4. Grammatical range and accuracy

    “Traffic jam is one of the biggest problem in the modern cities”

    Two slips in the opening line: a countable noun without an article, and a singular noun after 'one of the biggest'.

  5. 5. Lexical resource

    “the people should use the carpooling or the bicycle for the short distance”

    Four unnecessary definite articles in one clause, and 'for the short distance' where 'for short journeys' is meant.

One honest caveat

Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.

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