One question type, start to finish
The whole Task 2 path, filtered to this one question type: how to read the prompt, what each of the four paragraphs has to do, the connectors it leans on, and a finished essay at the end. Every step links to its full unit if you want to drill it.
The prompt
Everything below answers this. The highlighted words are the instruction — the part that decides the shape of the whole essay, and the part most people skim.
Large quantities of food are wasted by households. Why does this happen, and how can the amount of waste be reduced?
How you recognise it
Instruction signal: What are the causes/problems? What measures/solutions can be taken?
What it must answer: Identify the requested causes or problems and propose solutions that directly address them. Some prompts request only one of these combinations.
Most common misread
Memorising a causes-and-solutions template when the actual prompt asks for problems and measures, or causes and effects.
Official format: IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 asks for an essay of at least 250 words in response to a question. The five question families are WeLearn teaching categories, not official IELTS names.
WeLearn strategy: This page collects the steps of the full course filtered to one question type, so that a student who only needs this one can follow the whole path in order.
Review focus: Writing a complete problem & solution answer, from reading the prompt to the finished essay.
Explained answer: Compare your finished essay with the model at the end: same prompt, same four paragraphs, and each paragraph doing the job named above it.
Step 1
Six questions you put to the prompt, in this order. They are the same six for every Task 2 prompt you will ever see — that is what makes them worth learning. Answer each one before you open it.
1Topic — What situation is this prompt about?
Cover the highlighted instruction with your hand and read only what is left. That is the topic — and it is the part that matters least, which is why most people spend the most time on it.
food waste
2Instruction — What am I being told to produce?
The highlighted words, and nothing else. Not the topic, not how many views appear before it. Every decision below follows from this one sentence.
What are the causes/problems? What measures/solutions can be taken?
3Scope — How much room does that instruction leave me?
The exact wording. “To what extent” allows a degree — largely, partly. “Do you agree” does not. “Outweigh” forces a verdict; “advantages and disadvantages” forbids one. One word decides.
Answer why and how.
4Your answer — What do I actually think, in one sentence?
Nowhere in the prompt. This is the first row you supply, and if you skip it now you will discover halfway through Body 2 that you never decided.
A personal opinion is not always required. The thesis should define the diagnostic and solution route.
5Body 1 — What is the strongest reason for that answer?
Also yours. The test is whether it supports the answer above — not whether it is true about the topic. A true statement that does not support your answer belongs in someone else's essay.
purchasing habits and date labels.
6Body 2 — What is the second reason, and is it genuinely different?
Yours as well. If you can rewrite Body 2 using Body 1's sentences, you have one reason written twice, and the examiner will read it as one.
planning and clearer labels.
Rows 1 to 3 are in the prompt: two readers should get the same answer. Rows 4 to 6 are not — they are yours, and two good essays on this prompt can disagree completely.
Step 2
What this paragraph has to do, and how you get there from the prompt above.
Answer why and how.
Body 1: purchasing habits and date labels. Body 2: planning and clearer labels.
The blocks below, in this order.
Most discarded food is thrown away long before it becomes unsafe to eat.
Household food waste remains widespread despite its financial and environmental costs.
The problem largely results from poor purchasing decisions and confusion over date labels, both of which can be reduced through practical consumer guidance and clearer packaging.
The causes and solutions are paired in one precise sentence.
No unnecessary personal opinion is invented.
Watch for: Memorising a causes-and-solutions template when the actual prompt asks for problems and measures, or causes and effects.
Step 3
What this paragraph has to do, and how you get there from the prompt above.
Body 1 carries the first reason you committed to when you read the prompt: purchasing habits and date labels.
Answer why: weak planning and misunderstood date labels.
The blocks below, in this order.
Household food waste often begins with poor purchasing decisions and confusion about product labels.
Shoppers may buy more than they can use when promotions reward quantity or meals have not been planned.
Usable food may then be discarded because a quality label is interpreted as an immediate safety deadline.
For example, an unopened product can be thrown away solely because its best-before date has passed, even when correct storage has preserved it.
Much domestic waste is thus created before food is ever prepared.
Watch for: Moving directly to recycling, which does not explain why edible food is purchased and discarded.
Step 4
What this paragraph has to do, and how you get there from the prompt above.
Body 2 carries the second reason you committed to when you read the prompt: planning and clearer labels.
Answer the second instruction with practical ways to reduce household food waste.
The blocks below, in this order.
Household food waste can be reduced by making purchasing and storage decisions more deliberate.
Clear meal plans, realistic portion sizes and visible date labels help consumers use food before buying replacements.
These measures interrupt the cycle in which excess products are forgotten and discarded.
For example, a household that plans three evening meals can buy the required ingredients instead of choosing a large promotional bundle.
Better planning therefore directly limits the unnecessary purchasing that drives domestic waste.
Watch for: Proposing restaurant or farm policies when the question concerns households.
Step 5
What this paragraph has to do, and how you get there from the prompt above.
The conclusion has to end on the answer you committed to when you read the prompt: A personal opinion is not always required. The thesis should define the diagnostic and solution route.
Compress the diagnosis and restate the response that actually addresses it.
The blocks below, in this order.
Overall, household food waste often begins with excessive purchasing and poor storage decisions.
Realistic meal planning, portion control and clearer use-by information can directly interrupt this avoidable cycle.
Watch for: Adding a new solution that the body paragraphs never developed.
Step 6
Every family is useful somewhere. These are the ones this question type needs most.
Cause and effect
what comes next is the consequence of what came before
Open this familyNow you decide
Neither of these is about English. They are about answering the question you were actually asked.
In many cities, young people are finding it increasingly difficult to buy their first home. What problems does this cause, and what solutions can governments and communities offer?
Choose the structure the two questions ask for
The prompt asks two things. Only one of these shapes answers both.
Choose one.
Pick the ideas worth developing
Three of these can carry a paragraph. Two of them cannot.
Choose every decision you would keep.
The finished essay
261 words on the prompt below. Each paragraph is labelled with the job it does — the same jobs you just read, in the same order.
Large quantities of food are wasted by households. Why does this happen, and how can the amount of waste be reduced?
Most discarded food is thrown away long before it becomes unsafe to eat. Household food waste remains widespread despite its financial and environmental costs. The problem largely results from poor purchasing decisions and confusion over date labels, both of which can be reduced through practical consumer guidance and clearer packaging. This essay identifies the main causes of household waste and then sets out the purchasing and storage measures most likely to reduce it.
Reframe the prompt, state the position, and preview what each body paragraph will argue.Household food waste often begins with poor purchasing decisions and confusion about product labels. Shoppers may buy more than they can use when promotions reward quantity or meals have not been planned. Usable food may then be discarded because a quality label is interpreted as an immediate safety deadline. For example, an unopened product can be thrown away solely because its best-before date has passed, even when correct storage has preserved it. Much domestic waste is thus created before food is ever prepared.
Answer why: weak planning and misunderstood date labels.Household food waste can be reduced by making purchasing and storage decisions more deliberate. Clear meal plans, realistic portion sizes and visible date labels help consumers use food before buying replacements. These measures interrupt the cycle in which excess products are forgotten and discarded. For example, a household that plans three evening meals can buy the required ingredients instead of choosing a large promotional bundle. Better planning therefore directly limits the unnecessary purchasing that drives domestic waste.
Answer the second instruction with practical ways to reduce household food waste.Overall, household food waste often begins with excessive purchasing and poor storage decisions. Realistic meal planning, portion control and clearer use-by information can directly interrupt this avoidable cycle.
Compress the diagnosis and restate the response that actually addresses it.Preguntas frecuentes
No como ruta oficial independiente. IELTS Writing Task 2 pide escribir un ensayo de al menos 250 palabras en respuesta a una pregunta. WeLearn separa problem-solution como categoría de práctica porque muchos prompts piden explicar causas, problemas, soluciones o medidas.
Debe identificar un problema específico, explicar por qué ocurre o por qué es importante, proponer una solución realista y conectar esa solución con el problema. No basta con nombrar medidas generales.
No. Si la pregunta pide both problems and solutions, debes cubrir ambos lados de forma explícita. Omitir problemas o soluciones puede afectar Task Response.
Problem and solution prompt bank
Official format: IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 requires a response of at least 250 words to the given prompt. WeLearn strategy: this route trains the link that decides this type: every solution you propose has to answer a problem or a cause you named earlier, and the prompt decides which of the two it asked for.
Problem-solution
Many households throw away large amounts of food every week. Why does this happen, and what measures could reduce the problem?
Connect causes with realistic solutions instead of writing two unrelated lists.
Food waste is mainly caused by poor planning and confusion about freshness labels, so solutions must make buying and storing food easier for households.
Giving solutions that do not match the causes.
Problem-solution
People living in large cities often report feeling lonely despite being surrounded by others. What causes this problem, and what can be done to address it?
Explain social causes and propose community-level solutions with clear mechanisms.
Urban loneliness often results from weak local routines, so solutions should create repeated, low-pressure opportunities for residents to meet.
Explaining loneliness as only an individual attitude and ignoring urban conditions.