Writing Task 2 problem–solution essays: match the solution to the problem you chose

"What problems does this cause, and what solutions can you suggest?" looks like the friendliest Task 2 format — no position to defend, just problems and fixes. That friendliness is the trap. The band 6 version of this essay lists three problems, waves at "governments should take measures", and ends; its failure is not language but mismatch and vagueness — solutions that don't answer the specific problems raised, and measures too abstract to evaluate. The genre's whole discipline is a pairing discipline.

Select two, pair them, go deep

The prompt says "problems" and "solutions" — plural — and two of each, properly developed, beats four of each listed. The working structure:

• Body 1 — problems, with mechanisms. Not "traffic congestion causes stress and pollution" but why: commuting time displaces sleep and family time (the stress pathway); idling engines concentrate emissions precisely where people live (the pollution pathway). Causal chains — X leads to Y, which in turn… — are what "extends and supports ideas" means in the band 7 descriptors, and they set up the solutions to have something specific to grip.
• Body 2 — solutions, each answering a named problem. The congestion-stress problem gets remote-work mandates or staggered hours (attacks the displaced-time mechanism); the street-level pollution problem gets low-emission zones (attacks the concentration mechanism). One sentence per solution on who acts — government, employers, individuals — and one on a limitation or condition ("this works only where public transport can absorb the shift"), which is the cheapest sophistication signal the genre offers.

The mismatch test before writing a word of Body 2: for each solution, can you name the Body 1 problem it addresses? A solution answering a problem you never raised — or a problem left with no answering solution — is the exact shape of "ideas insufficiently developed" in the Task Response criterion.

The genre's language

Problem language: stems from, is driven by, gives rise to, exacerbates, the knock-on effect is. Solution language: mitigate, curb, incentivise, enforce, a partial remedy, addresses the root cause rather than the symptom. Hedged evaluation — would likely reduce, goes some way toward — reads as band 7+ precision, not weakness; unhedged certainty about complex social fixes reads as naivety. And the conclusion for this genre is a priority claim, not a summary: name which solution matters most and why ("of these, congestion pricing addresses the cause the others only manage"), which converts a list into a judgement.

Variants to read carefully: "causes and solutions" wants why it happens in Body 1, not its effects; "problems and effects" wants no solutions at all; "to what extent do you agree that this is the best solution" is an opinion essay wearing this genre's clothes — a band 6.5 and a band 8 opinion essay to the same question show what that format wants instead. Fifteen seconds of prompt analysis decides which essay you're actually being asked to write.