This lesson will provide you some tips for task 2 essay type where you have to discuss causes and solutions to some kind of problems.
For example:
"These days many people develop health problems due to lack of exercise.
Why don't people exercise enough and what steps should these people take to get more physical activity?"
The problem is that people have health problems because they are getting enough exercise. A central problem, and then in this question, this is a cause and solution question. The first part of the second sentence is asking you to explore the causes.
What are the causes of lack of exercise these days? And then the second part of the question, that is where they are asking you for solutions. What steps should these people take to get more physical activity? This is a common cause solution question.
Social media has many positive uses, but there have been some negative consequences to it as well. Identify a problem caused by social media and describe the solutions you would propose to address this problem. Another one where we have to look at causes and solutions. You are supposed to identify something caused by social media and then talk about how that problem can be solved in some way.
These are two questions that really fit the kind of standard model for these type of task 2 questions. Some strategy, first of all, it is very very important to read the directions any task 2 question but especially for these.
There is a possibility in this question type that you will have to focus on some different things. For example, sometimes you are supposed to discuss causes and solutions. This is what we saw in the two example questions earlier, and this is the most common type for the IELTS. However, sometimes they only ask you for causes. Other times, they only ask you to write about solutions. You have to really focus on the question. Don't assume that you are supposed to write equally about causes and solutions in this essay type. Sometimes, it is possible you would only need to focus on one side of the question there.
Besides, it is also important in this essay type to use very careful academic language, especially when you are providing your solutions to whatever issue you are describing. But of course, also the causes as well. This is a very academic essay type most of the time.
It is important to say things carefully like, one possible solution is or one of the causes could be. By saying it this way you are avoiding sounding overly certain. That you have the one and only solution or that you are explaining the one and only cause to the problem that you are talking about. That it does not sound academic because it sounds too certain, and it is too simple.
Other tips for such kind of essay question can be found in the below video (will be updated later):
