Write at least 250 words · 40 minutes
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Ideas to get you started
- Growing populations and more car ownership
- Better buses, trains and cycle lanes
- Charges for driving into busy areas at peak times
A plan for this question
- Introduction: paraphrase the problem and preview your answer: the main cause is more cars on limited roads, and better public transport plus charges for driving can reduce it.
- Body 1 (causes): growing city populations and car ownership, slow or unreliable public transport, and everyone travelling at the same hours.
- Body 2 (solutions): match each cause: frequent buses, metro and cycle lanes; charges for driving into busy areas at peak times; flexible working hours.
- Conclusion: sum up the main cause and the most effective solution.
Model essay
289 words
Traffic congestion has become a daily reality in many of the world's cities, wasting time and polluting the air. This essay will argue that the problem is caused mainly by the growing number of cars on roads that cannot expand, and that better public transport combined with charges for driving can reduce it.
The most obvious cause is that more people are living in cities and more of them own a car. As incomes rise, a car becomes affordable for many families, and it is often seen as a symbol of success. However, road space in a city centre is limited, so each additional vehicle adds to the queues. The situation is made worse when public transport is slow, crowded or unreliable, because people who would happily take a bus feel they have no choice but to drive. In addition, offices and schools often start at the same time, so huge numbers of people travel at exactly the same hours.
Several measures could ease the problem. First, governments should invest in frequent, comfortable buses and metro lines, together with safe cycle lanes, so that leaving the car at home becomes the easier option. Second, cities could charge drivers for entering the busiest areas at peak times, as London and Singapore have done. Such charges discourage unnecessary journeys, and the money raised can be used to improve public transport. Finally, employers could allow flexible start times or some working from home, which would spread traffic more evenly across the day.
In conclusion, traffic jams result mainly from rising car use in cities with limited road space and weak public transport. A combination of better alternatives to the car and charges for driving at busy times offers the most effective solution.
Written by Acedmi to show what a high-band essay looks like. It is not an official IELTS sample, and your own ideas can be different.
Useful vocabulary
- congestion
- So much traffic that vehicles can only move slowly.
- “Congestion adds an hour to many commuters’ journeys.”
- car ownership
- How many people own a car.
- “Car ownership has doubled in the city in ten years.”
- peak times / rush hour
- The times of day when most people travel.
- “Roads are blocked at peak times every morning.”
- public transport
- Buses, trains and metros that anyone can use.
- “Reliable public transport persuades people to leave their cars at home.”
- congestion charge
- A fee for driving into a busy area.
- “A congestion charge reduced traffic in the city centre.”
- infrastructure
- Basic systems such as roads, railways and bridges.
- “The city’s infrastructure was built for far fewer vehicles.”
- commuter
- A person who travels regularly to work or study.
- “Most commuters would switch to the train if it were faster.”
- ease the problem
- Make a problem less serious.
- “Flexible working hours could ease the problem.”
Common mistakes
- Answering only one part. The question asks for causes and solutions, so give each its own paragraph.
- Solutions that do not match the causes. If slow public transport is a cause, better public transport should be one of your solutions.
- Listing six causes in one line each. Two or three causes, each explained, score higher than a long list.
What the examiner marks
Four criteria, equally weighted: Task Response (answer every part of the question with a clear position), Coherence and Cohesion (logical paragraphs and linking), Lexical Resource (range and accuracy of vocabulary) and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. An essay under 250 words loses marks for Task Response.